Did you know peanuts are a currency?

I just found out today via Techcrunch that peanuts are the in-game currency for the social networking/gaming site Xuqa, who by the way has a very unique business model: players get peanuts by competing in poker games and modeling contests, by referring friends, and by filling out market research surveys and browsing Cost Per Action advertisements. Then, the top peanut-earners are awarded cash prizes. Xuqa only makes money on the surveys and advertisments, and they’ve opted not to include ads on the entire site, relegating them only to a special section for people wanting to earn peanuts. As Marshall points out, Xuqa is already profitable which is interesting simply because their model is an alternative to making money via usual site advertising or by charging for in-game customization like Cyworld. If Xuqa focuses on improving their games I think they could do very well.