UK accountants advise regulation of metaverse finances

The ‘frontier’ feel of virtual worlds like Second Life is a large part of their appeal, as the lax rules allow people to engage in activities that may be more restricted back in the conceptual Old World. This mostly takes the form of harmless cultural behaviours, with scatterings of deviancy that is circumscribed for very good reasons. But a think-tank of UK accountants are flagging up a warning on the potential of virtual economies to be used as money laundering systems, and recommend that they are treated in the same way as any meatspace bank or institution. The question is, will legislation be able to keep up with the technology?