The World Stock Exchange (WSE) was a virtual stock exchange created Hope Capital Pty. Ltd. of Melbourne, Australia and managed by CEO, Luke Connell. The game opened on 5 March 2007 and first appeared in the virtual world of Second Life. Transactions occurred outside of Second Life on the WSE website. The game initially used the Linden Dollar currency from Second Life and in July 2007 integrated a new virtual currency called the World Internet Currency (WIC, WICS, W$). The WIC currency, similar to the Linden Dollar, could be converted to/from USD. In its first 25 days, the WSE generated $200,000 in trading volume. Players of the game were not legally protected as with a real stock exchange, instead trading was governed by the Linden Labs terms of service and the listing rules created by Con