Anshe Chung defines relationship with WSE

This morning, World Stock Exchange CEO LukeConnell Vandeverre provided SLOz with a notecard which in his is “the announcement I was provided to post at will”. It’s an explanation by Anshe Chung of her relationship to investment in SL and the WSEWe’ve posted the full text below:

“Dear fellow pioneers in the Metaverse economy,

As interest in this topic increased recently, I think it is time to let you know a little bit about what role my company and I played in regards to seed and venture capital in Second Life and what you can and can’t expect in the future.

Since summer 2004 I have actively and with very significant funds supported almost 100 startup businesses and non-profit projects in Second Life. Some of these have been successful and are widely known, others failed. We talk about more than L$60 million that I, and later ACS, have invested in people’s ideas, creating opportunities.

Most of these investments, even some donations to non-profit projects, I decided to keep low profile and not disclose to the public. This has several reasons. The first is, that when I am helping the newbies I am helping the newbies for the sake of helping the newbies and not for PR. The second is, that I don’t want the newbies to become collateral targets of bad people who tend to go after prominent targets and whatever they can associate with these. The third reason is that I tend to be pretty hands-off with most of these ventures.

I also noticed that some people, especially newbie investors, think something is “safe” when they hear “Anshe is involved”. This is not the case when it comes to undisclosed seed and venture investments. There is a fundamental dilema between giving newbies a chance and excluding fraud or risk. What is worse, some people even confuse the role of an investor with the role of somebody who is actively involved in management.

I would be careful with businesses who advertise to you that I am an investor. You will most likely not be facing the best investments in my basket, because the really well managed and trustworthy companies will not have to advertise their shares to you by revealing my investment without my consent. In some cases I might not even be an investor.

In the future I don’t plan to change much about this. I will be launching the Dreamland Stock Exchange (DSE) that aims to bring a small number of companies on as IPO’s that will have gone through a rigorous review by me and my team. However the “majority” of SL ventures will be traded on exchanges such as the World Stock Exchange.

I hope the WSE will continue to grow, especially after the huge investment I have made to support Luke’s project. I look forward to the new shareholder voting features along with the increased measures to deal with fraud and insider trading. Please understand that I am in no way involved in the management or decision making at Hope Capital Ltd and the WSE. Like all of you, I hope that everyone in charge will remain honest and professional.

Wishing you and your money a nice time, much fun and I hope your Linden$ will have many babies!

Yours,

Anshe Chung”

This message from Anshe Chung is certainly taking a conciliatory line in relation to investment in SL and her encouragement of increased transparency measures for WSE will likely assist its legitimacy amidst some regular criticism of its operations. Transparency of such operations, whether they be the WSE or DSE will be pivotal to instill the level of confidence required to ensure either virtual institution moves beyond the support they currently have.