Summary of Tilia acquisition Lab Gab + SL Round Table News

Posted on by Inara Pey
via Linden Lab

On Friday, April 26th, 2024, Linden Lab issued a pre-recorded Lab Gab session featuring the company’s Executive Chairman, Brad Oberwager (Oberwolf Linden) discussing the recent news concerning the acquisition of Tilia.io, the all-in-one payments platform established by Linden Lab in 2019 and which manages payment processing and cashing out for Second Life, by Singapore-based business-2-business (B2B) payments infrastructure firm Thunes, and which I reported on here on the acquisition.

At the same time, the blog post promoting the Lab Gab session provided further information on the upcoming Community Round Table event, first informally announced on April 19th, 2024.

The following is a brief summary of the Lab Gab session, offered as a quick reference summary for those interested. In addition, a brief summary of the Round Table event news is at the end of this article.

Lab Gab – Thunes and Tilia

General Points

[Video: 1:00-4:00]

  • The news of the acquisition has been the subject of considerable commentary on the official forums and elsewhere, and the concerns voice are seen as “understandable”.
  • Summary of Tilia (as clarification):
    • A payments company which (for Second Life) allows users to use credit and debit cards and PayPal to buy Linden dollars;  tracks the use of those Linden dollars and support the sale of those Linden Dollars, and allows users to cash-out the USD value of those Linden Dollars [after fees] to their bank accounts.
    • However, Tilia is not the LindeX itself – that is separate technology specific to Second Life.
    • In order to function under US regulatory law, Tilia requires money transmitter licenses (MTLs) [and is classified a Money Service Business or MSB]
    • Running Tilia costs “millions and millions” of dollars to run, so the decision was taken to spin it out as a business in its own right so that it could support other customers / platforms, and thus alleviate some of the costs faced by LL.
    • However, this has not worked out as well as had been hoped. While Tilia has a modest client list, it still relied heavily on Linden Lab to meet its costs, thus detracting for finances which could be used within Second Life.
    • The decision was therefore made to seek an organisation which might – “under guidelines” acquire Tilia and make it profitable.

Tilia and LindeX Demarcation

[Video 21:00-23:24]

  • The LindeX is a core part of the Second Life services, operated and maintained by Linden Lab.
  • Tilia is a regulated entity / financial institution which:
    • allows Second Life residents to hold US dollar amounts in an account;
    • is allowed to run a credit card;
    • is allowed to make pay-outs.
  • As such, Tilia has no influence upon the LindeX, and has nothing to do with pricing, exchange rates, etc., that are the remit of the LindeX.

Requirements for Acquisition

[Video: 4:41-5:28]

  • First criteria: any company acquiring Tilia must to commit to continuing to support Second Life, and the relationship between Second Life and Tilia is continued.
  • Second criteria: what could any company acquiring Tilia bring to Tilia and thus to Second Life?
  • Additional criteria included: how much were companies willing to pay; what would happen to Tilia staff, how fast could a buyer commit to completing the deal, etc.

Thunes – Who and Why

[Video: 5:35-8:18 and 11:00-12:30]

  • Thunes is an international money movement company “missing one piece of a very interesting jigsaw puzzle” – the United States.
  • In short, Thunes does not have MTLs to operate in the United States, although they had begun the process of applying for them.
  • Brad Oberwager was introduced to the CEO of Thunes right at the time thought was being given to selling Tilia, and Thunes were starting on the road of  applying for MTLs in the US.
  • As both parties recognised the value in reaching an agreement, they were able to rapidly enter into an exclusive agreement for the sale of Tilia.
    • Tilia gives Thunes the ability to operate in the United States in a more cost-effective manner than Thunes could otherwise achieve.
    • Tilia (rebranded as Thunes) will effectively become Thunes’ centre of operations for expanding its business into the US.
  • [As noted in my article] Thunes allows for a range of payment methods direct to customers in multiple currencies and to bank accounts, to virtual wallets, etc., with payment made in real-time. These are abilities Linden Lab has not been able to build-in to Tilia, as they are both complex and expensive.
  • As Thunes integrates Tilia into its business model, Second Life will be able to access Thunes’ global network and services.
  • [From 11:00] While there were other suitors for the deal, Thunes was the company with which Brad Oberwager felt most comfortable.
  • Thunes also demonstrated they really want to invest into Tilia and grow it as a business.
    • They weren’t simply looking at Tilia as a means to gain the MTLs.
    • They didn’t see Tilia as a one-stop solution; rather it is a merging of capabilities neither Thunes nor Tilia have individually.

The 5-Year Partnership and Payment Options to Second Life Users

[Video: 8:23-10:59]

  • The Thunes press release on the acquisition references a 5-year partnership with Linden Lab.
  • This is in reference to the business agreement between Linden Lab and Thunes, which is “so good” for both, the two companies wanted for formalise it beyond just the acquisition of Tilia, thus meeting the first criteria within the Lab’s requirements for any Tilia acquisition.
    • Any offer made for Tilia which had not provided the ability to meet the first criteria set by Brad Oberwager would not have been accepted.
  • There will be “a lot of things offered” to Second Life users, but what cannot be committed to as this point in time is when these things might be offered, simply because Linden Lab will not be involved in the day-to-day management and development of Tilia, post-sale. However:
    • “First on the roadmap” is better pay-outs and more pay-outs.
    • There will also [likely] be more options for purchasing L$.

Regulatory Approval and When Will SL Users Notice the Transition

[Video 12:32-15:33]

  • The acquisition is being handled as a reverse triangular merger [in essence, Tilia is both the subsidiary and the post-acquisition entity].
  • The company will be rebranded, but all the technology and data will “remain Tilia”. As such, Second Life users may never know that the transition has happened; all the things that are important in terms of data are staying the same; all of the things in terms of the technology are “only going to get better”.
  • What will change in Tilia’s owner, and this is where the regulatory approval comes in.
    • MTLs cannot simply be handed over to a new owner when a company operating them is sold; the new owner has to be approved by the state (/territorial) regulator(s) responsible for issuing the MTLs.
    • While regulators work at different speeds [and Tilia is licensed in 48 US states and territories), the process of gaining all the required approvals could take “from 5 to 9 months”.
    • Confidence in a buyer being able to gain all this regulatory approval was another criterion for any sale of Tilia. Thunes give him that level of confidence, because it has gone through similar processes elsewhere in the world.

Benefits, User Data and Fees

[Video: 15:33-21:00]

  • Proceeds of the sale will [obviously] go to the owners of Linden Lab. They will then determine how much of those funds are invested back into Second Life.
  • The better Second Life (or aspects thereof) do, then the greater the amount of money put into Second Life. Cited examples:
    • If SL Mobile sees high adoption and use, if it becomes successful on the Apple / Google app stores, etc., then more money could well be put towards further development / enhancement of the mobile product.
    • If SL sees increases in retained new users as a result of initiatives, with the daily average usage of the platform increasing, then more money will go into further improvements in that area.
  • A key point with the acquisition of Linden Lab [by Oberwager and Waterfield in 2020] is the company spending has increased, which has “proven to be a good thing” for the platform.
  • User Data Security: An important point to note with the acquisition of Tilia is that Second Life user data is not changing hands.
    • Tilia will have new owners and will be renamed, but the lock-down of Second Life user data resides in two places: Tilia (for financial information) and Second Life (actual user data).
    • As a financial services company, Thunes is required to keep financial data as secure as it currently is with Tilia, and the data will not be removed from the current Tilia systems and moved elsewhere.
  • User fees for payment processing, cashing out, etc.: Brad Oberwager has “no intention” to change fees “any which way” as a result of the deal with Thunes.
    • Pointed out that LL does revise fees, but tends to do so in a manner intended to reflect the value of the services they provide. So, while fees for payment processing, etc., have increased in the past – they have generally been as a result of lowering fees elsewhere (e.g. in reducing land tier).
    • Also made clear that while there are no plans to increase payment process / cashing out fees as a result of this deal, the LindeX is expensive to run and maintain – and so he is not saying there will “never” be any fee increases; changes will be made on a business benefit basis.

On The Future of Second Life

[Video 23:25-26:11]

  • Views Second Life as a “moral imperative” – it is so good for so many in the world for so many reasons, that there is a moral need that goes beyond a financial reason to have Second Life continue.
  • The only connection between selling Tilia and Second Life is that, under Linden Lab’s ownership was not “financially good” for Linden Lab, but is a potential financial powerhouse for Thunes.
  • The Thunes deal has gone ahead purely because it is good for Linden Lab, for Second Life and for Tilia and its employees; therefore there is “nothing negative” about the deal.
  • He remains fully supportive of Second Life, and – per the earlier examples – willing to put the money raised from the sale back into Second Life.

Round Table Update

  • As per the original April 19th informal announcement, the Round Table event will take place on Monday, May 20th, 2024, commencing at 09:30 SLT, and will be the first in a series of such events, which are defined as:
An opportunity to connect directly with our top executives, share your input, and discuss ideas on enhancing Second Life. This initiative represents another step in our efforts to improve our community interactions, ensuring that your voice is more directly heard and valued. 
  • The location for the event has not (at the time of writing) been stated, but will be announced “closer to the date”.
  • This first Round Table will feature Linden Lab Executive Chairman Oberwolf Linden and Senior VP of Product & Engineering Grumpity Linden. Plus:
    • The session will include further discussion of the above Tilia acquisition, and on upcoming Linden Lab / Second Life Policy updates.
    • There will be an open Q&A portion of the event (which is not for airing individual support issues or personal grievances and subject to the SL Community Standards.
    • In addition, questions and  / or feedback can be provided to the Leadership in advance of the event using this anonymous form.
  •  Future Round Table events will feature other Lab executives participating on a variety of topics, and the scheduling of these events will likely vary to be more accessible to other time zones.
  • Please see the official blog post for more.

The art of the American Scene in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
ArtCare Galleries: The American Scene, curated by Pamela Irelund

As I continue to play catch-up on things, I’m again covering another art exhibition that has been open for a while but will hopefully remain open for a while longer so that people might enjoy it, as the subject matter is both fascinating and engaging.

The American Scene, presented at Carelyna’s ArtCare gallery complex, is a collection of art and photography gathered and curated from the physical world by Pamela Irelund as a celebration of the American art movement spanning the majority of the first half of the 20th century (in this case 1906 through 1956, to be precise).

This was a period of American art history with saw a reaction against the European modernist movements in art; a time when American artists – painters, photographers writers, etc., – sought to emphasise realism within their work. Within the art movement, this led to the notable rise of two major styles of art: Regionalism (works emphasising realistic scenes of rural and small-town America, particularly during the period of the Great Depression), and Social Realism (realist portrayals of anonymous workers as well as celebrities as heroic symbols of strength in the face of adversity, notably again during the Depression). In addition, the period also celebrated aspects of American culture and life.

ArtCare Galleries: The American Scene, curated by Pamela Irelund

Divided into a series of eight themes: Poverty, Realism and Immigration; The Promise of Industry; Distractions and the Jazz Age; Bustling Cities; The Appeal of Rural Life; Loneliness and Yearning; The Solace of Nature, and The Spirit, the exhibition is a veritable tour de force of American art and artistry throughout the period. The 50+ pieces in the exhibition encompass artists whose names may well be very familiar to some, and others perhaps less well known, but no less deserving of exposure.

For the former, one might select Georgia O’Keeffe, regarded as the Mother of American Modernism (although it is fair to say that throughout most of her career she strove to remain apart from the major art movements). She is particularly well represented both through reproductions of her own work and via a 1918 photograph by her husband, Alfred Steglitz, another name that may be recognised. Steglitz was a major promoter of art in the United States and was a major force behind making photography a recognised art form.

ArtCare Galleries: The American Scene, curated by Pamela Irelund

Also present within the exhibition is realist painter Andrew Wyeth, represented by what may well be his most recognised work, Christina (1948), a piece which actually inspired Second Life photographer shelly70 to create an entire region around Wyeth’s work. Grant Wood is presented by what might be regarded as his most famous piece, American Gothic (1930), whilst artist, photographer and film-maker Charles Steeler (who, if Georgia O’Keeffe is regarded as the Mother of American Modernism, then he might well be regarded as the Father) is also included, as is Archibald Motley (one of the major forces within, and contributors to, the Harlem Renaissance and the Chicago Black Renaissance, and Frank N. Wilcox and Thomas Hart Benson – both particular powerhouses of American Regionalism alongside the likes of Grant Wood.

However, whether or not the names of the artists are recognised, what cannot be denied is that this is an exhibition that genuinely spans the full breadth of the American Scene art movement, as well as encompassing the work of artists who might not be directly associated with the movement, but whose work – such as with Motley – played a major role in cultural recognition and growth.

ArtCare Galleries: The American Scene, curated by Pamela Irelund

In putting this exhibition together, Pamela has shown considerable care in her selections of art and artists – and in her respect for copyright. None of the pieces are offered for sale, regardless of their legal copyright status, and most are intentionally offered as low resolution images, with visitors encouraged to seek individual pieces on-line if they wish to see them at higher resolutions. However, “low resolution” does not mean the reproductions offered lack detail; again, care has been taken to show them at a size and format in which they can be appreciated though gentle camming through the exhibition.

In addition, Pamela also provides a highly informative notecard catalogue to the exhibition, and I highly recommend visitors take a copy: it not only offers information on the exhibition, its purpose and the period it represents, it also offers tidy thumbnail biographies of the artists presented within The American Scene, providing further insight to the period and the art.

ArtCare Galleries: The American Scene, curated by Pamela Irelund

In all, an excellent, and well-presented exhibition which brings an oft-overlooked period of art history.

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Exploring In Stillness in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Still, April 2024 – click any image for full size

Still and In Stillness sit as a pair of Second Life regions (one a Full private region leveraging the available Land Capacity bonus, and the other an adjoining Homestead region) held and designed by Matchbook Monday. Together, they more than live up to their About Land description – a place to still the mind and relax.

The two regions are presented as a temperate archipelago sitting – going by the region surrounds – just off the coast. In terms of which coast, I’d guess that by the lie of the land and Matchbook’s own origins together with the abundance of Canadian flags, either the east or west coast of that nation; say, somewhere along the British Columbia coastline or maybe somewhere within the gulf of St. Lawrence.

Still, April 2024

Although that said, it could just as easily be imaginatively set within somewhere like Lake Winnipeg (and even then, a boathouse in the setting displays a map of America’s Cape Cod, further making the setting a fascinating mix of potential influences!).

But wherever it might be placed, if one were inclined to try to pin it down as a place of the imagination with a physical world foundation, there is no doubting the natural beauty of the setting. The Full region comprises three islands, two of which are quite large, the northernmost of which is home to the main landing point. heavily wooded, the island sports a small cluster of waterfront businesses at its western end.

Still, April 2024

A broad walk passes around the northern side of the island to reach a small marina, sitting almost opposite a motel sitting alongside a quay on the island’s southern side. To one side of the motel, and rather incongruously given the wild nature of the landscape and setting as a whole, there is a parking lot hosting a couple of saloon cars – not that they really have anywhere to drive easily. It is perhaps the one eccentricity within the entire estate, and offers something of a little visual twist.

The eastern end of the island is home to a campsite dotted with caravans which appear to be available for rent. This end of the island also offers views across a narrow strait of water to its southern neighbour, which almost matches it for size. However, the easiest way to reach this island is via the bridges which connect all three islands. Both the second large island as the smaller isle making up the trio are similar inasmuch as they both share the same landscaping as the first – unsurprisingly, given this is an archipelago –  and they are both home to small collections of rental cabins.

Still, April 2024

This latter point does not mean either island is off-limits to exploration; there are paths and trails running through both which are open to wandering. Rather, it simply means that visitors should be aware that the cabins, like the caravans mentioned above may be occupied and deserving of privacy.

That both islands might be explored can be seen in the provision of the two jet ski rezzers available – one per island. Open to public use, these allow visitors to scoot around all of the islands in the group – particularly those scattered across the Homestead region, viewing them from the water.

Still, April 2024

Throughout all of the main islands are multiple places to sit and pass the time – camp sites, decks, outdoor eating and drinking places. Those with keen eye might also spot places to fish and also bicycle rezzers for a little fun in exploring the main islands. These all give the setting an increased since of space, joining with the selected EEP settings and landscaping to add to the ambience of the regions – something further enhanced by the moody set of the misty waters around the islands.

Rounded-out by an ambient soundscape and with birds wheeling overhead, the two regions of Still and In Stillness (which have been given the names In Stillness and Still the Mind by Matchbook), are beautiful designed and implemented, offering a lot to appreciate and explore, and plenty to do. And needless to say, the setting is highly photogenic.

Still, April 2024

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Three artists for April at NovaOwl in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
NovaOwl, April 2024: Leonorah Beverly – Seen Through My Eyes

We’re fast approaching the end of April 2024, and I’m still playing catch-up on blogging (house renovations are SO much fun… or so some say!); so before the month goes *poof* in its entirety, I’m going to use this piece to squeeze three exhibitions into the one article. My apologies to the artists for doing so, as each of the three is really worthy of extended consideration in its own right, but I’m sure some readers will find the fact this article avoids my longer diatribal (if only that were an actual word…) meanderings into my subjective thoughts as to meaning and interpretation!

Fortunately, the three exhibitions I’m referencing are hoisted at the NovaOwl Gallery, operated by Uli Jansma, Ceakay Ballyhoo & Owl Dragonash, making visiting them a breeze (just accept the local Experience to hop between the gallery levels if you haven’t done so previously). They feature the work of three noted Second Life artists, Carelyna, Leonorah Beverly and Sina Sousa.

NovaOwl, April 2024: Sina Sousa – A Matter of Perspective

Located within both halves of the ground level gallery at NovaOwl is A Matter of Perspective by Sina Sousa, a collection of 12 pieces (including the small one mounted on an easel!) which – as the exhibition’s name suggests – offers a range of perspectives on life and the times in which we live.

Involved in Second Life since 2012, Sina has built a reputation for presenting works with contain both emotional subtext and relate to matter of identity – be it for the individual, group, or with society at large – whilst often mixing 3D elements in with her work when exhibiting it.

NovaOwl, April 2024: Sina Sousa – A Matter of Perspective

Such is the case with A Matter of Perspective. Here, strikingly presented as visual essays, Sina invites us to consider matter of identity in the modern world, life and the inevitability of death (and not just physical death, I would suggest, given the presentation of Memento Mori) and the times we are currently living through.

As is always the case with Sina, the images very much speak for themselves, and so I’m not going to overlay perceptions by wittering on about them further here!

NovaOwl, April 2024: Leonorah Beverly – Seen Through My Eyes

Occupying NovaOwl’s Sky 1 gallery is Seen Through My Eyes, the most extensive of the three exhibitions, comprising some 27 images by Leonorah Beverly.

Presented within a space which Leonorah has added décor reflective of her love of steampunk and the exotic, Seen Through My Eyes offers a highly personal journey through Second Life, the images framed and rendered as paintings, the majority in colour, although four are presented as quite marvellous monochrome pieces.

Throughout this collection there is a wonderful sense of that these are lavish illustrations that were produced as a part of some Second Life equivalent of a Victorian or Edwardian era of a Grand Tour, and which have now come to be exhibited in their own right. This gives the exhibition something of a classic feel to it, as well as honouring the personal nature of Leonorah’s view of SL as a place to be visited and appreciated.

NovaOwl, April 2024: Carelyna – Moonchild

Located on the lowest floor of NovaOwl’s Sky #2 gallery, Carelyna presents Moonchild, a series of six captivating images which coupled with text elements occupying the wall spaces alongside them. The latter are very much integral to the exhibition, offering as they do a cyclical poem in blank verse with no definable start or end, but rather linking the images in an unending loop. Together, words and images offer reflections on love and romance, and the role of the Moon in both.

As is always the case with Carelyna’s work, the images are hauntingly beautiful in their rendering and evocative in their narrative. They stand both on their own as paintings, whilst also being perfectly intertwined as reflections of the poem’s endless cycle as one gazes around the room. Where you start makes no difference, each image and stanza opens the door by which one can travel through the images and poem and savour her visual meditations on love and romance.

NovaOwl, April 2024: Carelyna – Moonchild

Three superb Second Life artists presenting three imaginative and evocative exhibitions all within one gallery hub – so don’t miss out and hop on over the NovaOwl before these exhibitions draw to a close.

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2024 SL SUG meetings week #17 summary

Posted on by Inara Pey
Hotel Del Salto, April 2024 – blog post †

The following notes were taken from the Tuesday, April 23rd, 2024 Simulator User Group (SUG) meeting. They form a summary of the items discussed, and are not intended to be a full transcript, and were taken from my chat log and the video by Pantera – my thanks to her as always for providing it.

Meeting Overview

  • The Simulator User Group (also referred to by its older name of Server User Group) exists to provide an opportunity for discussion about simulator technology, bugs, and feature ideas.
  • These meetings are conducted (as a rule):
  • They are open to anyone with a concern / interest in the above topics, and form one of a series of regular / semi-regular User Group meetings conducted by Linden Lab.
  • Dates and times of all current meetings can be found on the Second Life Public Calendar, and descriptions of meetings are defined on the SL wiki.

Simulator Deployments

  • The Main channels was restarted on Tuesday, April 23rd with no update.
  • On Wednesday, April 24th:
    • Bluesteel RC will be updated with the back-end support for the the glTF updates available in the Graphics Featurettes viewer (e.g. PBR terrain textures and mirrors), joining the Preflight channel.
      • The code currently contains a bug wherein the server can flood the viewer with too many updates to the “Material override” data. The fix for this failed to pass QA to be included in the Blues
    • Le Tigre and Magnum and any other RC channels will be restarted without any new deployment.

Upcoming Deployments

  • There are currently some bugs within the WebRTC voice support, and these caused the planned deployment of this to be delayed. See my Week #12 summary for an outline of WebRTC voice.
  • The above means the Spring Break RC update (which has a fix for the hovering-at-login issue) is being moved to next-in-line for deployment.

SL Viewer Updates

  • On Tuesday, April 23rd, 2024:
    • The Maintenance Y/Z RC ( My Outfits folder improvements; ability to remove entries from landmark history) version 7.1.6.8745209917 dated April 19th, was promoted to de facto release viewer.
    • The Maintenance X RC (usability improvements) updated to version 7.1.6.8758996787, on April 23rd.

The rest of the official viewers in a pipeline remain as:

In Brief

  • Leviathan Linden has finished implementing the new VEHICLE_FLAG_BLOCK_INTERFERENCE which would allow vehicles to optionally prevent attachments on passengers from pushing the vehicle around (so as to prevent cheating in racing, for example).
    • This particularly targets llSetVelocity(), llApplyImpulse() and llPushObject() calls.
    • llMoveToTarget(), llSetForce() were also tested, but did not appear to work on the vehicle, so the code for blocking them in this circumsatances has been removed. However, if an exploit using them can be demonstrated, Leviathan is willing to add the code back into a simulator update.
    • Leviathan hopes to get the functionality in the Spring Break simulator update before that goes to internal QA pre-deployment testing.
  • There is a request to increase the server notecard cache. This is seen by the Lab as “doable”, but has yet to be actioned.
  • The above lead to a lengthy discussion on n/card caching, and how best to define the cache (e.g. by n/card size, rather than the number of notecards) which segued into scripting and a viewer-side LSD editing interface(!).
  • It was indicated that an update to the Bake Service to support 2K textures is “in the plan” – but no indication of when the update might actually take place.

† The header images included in these summaries are not intended to represent anything discussed at the meetings; they are simply here to avoid a repeated image of a rooftop of people every week. They are taken from my list of region visits, with a link to the post for those interested.

Linden Lab to sell payments platform Tilia to Thunes

Posted on by Inara Pey
via Tilia.io

It has been announced that Tilia.io, the all-in-one payments platform established by Linden Lab in 2019 and which manages payment processing and cashing out for Second Life (as well as supporting a number of other platforms and virtual environments), is to be acquired by Singapore-based business-2-business (B2B) payments infrastructure firm Thunes.

The acquisition of Tilia will be for an undisclosed sum, and follows an agreement being reached between Thunes and Tilia majority owner Linden Research (the formal name of Linden Lab). However, it is still currently awaiting regulatory approval, so has not  – as of the time of writing – being finalised.

News of the acquisition was made public via a press release widely circulated by Thunes on Tuesday, April 23rd, 2024 (see links below for some of the reporting on the announcement), and has sparked comments, discussions and questions on a number of Second Life related forums.

Who Are Thunes?

Thunes is regarded as a start-up company, although it has been operating for some eight years. As a B2B payments company, Thunes powers payments for major brands such as Uber and Deliveroo, and also to global Fintech companies such as PayPal and Remitly.

They boast that with a single connection, businesses and their customers can both send payments to, and receive payments from 133 countries around the world, with support for 84 currencies and some 550 alternative payment methods (ATMs), including 129 recognised mobile wallets. Whilst headquartered in Singapore, the company has regional offices in London where communications on the deal with Linden Lab are being handled), Paris, Shanghai, New York, Dubai, and Nairobi. In addition to providing a B2B payments infrastructure direct to businesses across the world, Thunes also provides payment services to the banking industry, a service it is aggressively growing in order to more fully compete with SWIFT, the world’s dominant international financial network.

In December 2023 Thunes achieved a market valuation of some $900 million, with its series C funding round bringing the company some US $202 million investment – including from the likes of Visa, the global payment giant, Singaporean government investment vehicle EDBI, and US-based Endeavor Catalyst.

Why Would They be Interested In Tilia†?

Tilia is particularly attractive to Thunes as it is already a fully licensed Money Service Business (MSB) across 48 US states and territories, thus allowing Thunes to readily extend its services to business owners and customers across the United States – including Tilia’s current customer base, which obviously includes Second Life, as well as VRChat, Upland, Avatus and Unity. In addition, through brand recognition within the content creation market and its expertise in managing token-based virtual economies such as the Linden Dollar, Tilia provides Thunes with a ready-made means of expanding its presence in these markets both in the United States and globally.

What Does This Mean for Second Life‡?

This is perhaps harder to quantify from the side-lines. However, there are some points which may be worthy of note:

  • Following regulatory approval, Tilia will be re-branded Thunes, but will continue to be based in San Francisco.
  • The agreement is subject to an exclusive 5-year collaboration, Thunes will provide payment processing and payouts to Linden Lab across Thunes’ global network.
    • This should allow Second Life users and creators to enjoy more options for buying Linden Dollars and for cashing-out “in a more cost-efficient manner and with increased transparency”, with the Lab adding via a comment on a Reddit thread, “without additional costs”.
  • In support of the above, the Thunes press release includes the following statement from Brad Oberwager, Linden Lab’s co-owner and Executive Chairman:
Thunes is an exceptional company that directly connects nearly every payment method and market worldwide. The combination of Tilia and Thunes will give Linden Lab’s customers more payment choices, and the ability to receive pay-outs in real-time, anywhere, into the wallet or bank account of their choice. It will be business as usual for our people and our customers as we bring Tilia and Thunes together.

I reached out to Linden Lab on hearing the news, and was informed that although the company has nothing further to add to the Thunes press release at this time, those from the company who will be attending the forthcoming Community Round Table (informally announced during the April 19th Lab Gab session, and featured in my summary of that event) will be prepared to discuss the acquisition. I’ll have a post on the Round Table as soon as all information relating to it (where, time, how to attend / watch) is publicly released.

With thanks to Coffee Pancake for the alert.

Related Links

† Please note I am not an financial services expert, this section is therefore a subjective best guess.
‡ Again, please note this is a subjective best guess, even given the supporting quotes.

Note: updated to better reflect Tilia’s relationship with Second Life.