There’s been a buzz about MicroPlace, a startup firm in microfinance, designed to compete with Kiva, Prosper and Zopa – which THDblog posted about back in November. The MicroPlace story was scooped in March at Auctionbytes which noted that eBay had acquired MicroPlace with the goal of “maintaining a web-based, eBay-like marketplace to connect ordinary people (with investable assets as little as $100) with microfinance entities that need capital”. Although the micro-loans are philanthropic in the immediate foreseeable future, eBay’s move to develop the mechanisms for greater p2p transactions has potential single bottom line implications for the lucrative remittance services markets ($230 billion in 2005) in addition to making socially minded loans – a market itself estimated at $300 billion in the next 10-20 years (PSDblog).