From what I could see, you guys are arguing about two different things...apples and oranges. The only thing e-lite did wrong in here was to link up the "ped flow" with the "withdrawal flow".
Those are actually two "separate systems" imo. Someone deposits USD into MA, MA creates the equivalent amount of PEDs for that someone in that someone's ped card. What he or she does with those PEDs is of no concern for MA and towards MA's accounts...unless and until those PEDs are "withdrawn".
So the spending of peds within the game...is related to the "ped flow" which e-lite has talked about. And that sounds correct to me...much in the way casino chips and casino jackpots are handled I guess.
As for the USD that was given to MA, then what Konve and the rest have said is correct.
Total Deposits - Total Withdrawals...equals...the amount of cash MA has to finance itself as a company as well as pay its "suppliers" and other whatnots.
For this part, MA handles it more or less quite similar to a "bank". It keeps a certain portion as cash to handle for withdrawal requests (most probably about 3% - 4% of it). The rest is used up as operating cash for the company...and perhaps in "other investments".
Sounds fine so far...but then trouble comes when CLDs and "other ingame investments" come into the picture.
Those pay out PEDs for the players to use "or" withdraw. And iirc, they pay out quite a high dividend of more than 10% p.a.?
If those PEDs gets withdrawn, MA would have trouble in paying them...for seriously, I don't think there's too many opportunities in real life for MA to invest in stuff that has "more than" 10% p.a. returns. So in such a case, as time drags, MA will have increasing difficulty in paying back what they owe. Bad business sense imo.
(And money don't sprout from trees, you know.)
If those PEDs don't get withdrawn, MA's "contingent liability" gets increasingly bloated anyway...and as a contingent liability....they "could" get withdrawn at any time by the players....and that's bad for MA as well.
So what does MA do?
Put in place stuff that can be sold for as much markup as possible while paying back as little TT value in the items as possible. That's when you get what you see lately....equus quads, invisible armor, restoration chips...and "un-ttable items" (stuff that you can see have TT value, but you can never recover those peds).
(And mind you, all of them requiring you to deposit "fresh cash" instead of allowing you to purchase using ingame PEDs.)
And then they tell you that the "value is in the markup" (which can of course be altered/crashed at any time for any reason).