A major round of account bannings by blizzard targeted at virtual currency sellers of World of Wacraft gold has causen the price of gold to rise from $20/1,000 gold to nearly $40/1,000 gold in a matter of days. Previously a series of price wars along with an increase in supply (due to lack of bannings) droped the price of gold down to a mere $20.
Although Blizzard has not announced any of the account bannings, prices are expected to continue to rise until supplies stabalize and blizzard stops the massive banning effort.
Once again, as in any black market, when government intervenes and attempts to limit supply it simply raises the prices. Although from the standpoint of Blizzard this is a good thing, inexpensive gold is much more tempting than expensive gold.
It should be noted that IGE has changed thier marketing tactics a bit, instead of focusing just on the "cheapest gold around" now they urge buyers to BUY NOW as "prices are rising".
We will continue to keep you updated on this matter as more information comes in.