Finance Posts

A Bank is a Bank

Aug 15, 2016

A Bank is a Bank

Do you remember when I wrote about how a federal district court had ruled that an online poker account was akin to a bank account and should therefore be subject to FBAR reporting? It seemed nonsense to me at the time—and I also worried about whether the court’s expanded definition of a “financial institution” would…

Why Virtual Gold Can’t Buy Plaintiffs Happiness

Nov 10, 2015

Why Virtual Gold Can’t Buy Plaintiffs Happiness

A federal court has soundly rejected a plaintiff’s contention that she suffered any real-world harm based on in-game losses of virtual currency.  In Mason v. Machine Zone, Inc., plaintiff Mia Mason alleged that she was a regular player of a free-to-play mobile game called Game of War (GoW): Fire Age.  GoW is a multiplayer online…