As the virtual goods economy on the Facebook Platform continues to explode, leading virtual currency monetization and payment providers are continuing the race to scale as quickly as possible. And while Facebook itself continues limited tests of its Facebook Credits-based application monetization program, Offerpal Media, one of the largest virtual currency monetization platforms for Facebook, MySpace, and online game developers, is now testing its own virtual currency called Offerpal Credits. The test is now live in fbFund application (and Facebook Payments alpha test participant) MouseHunt.

Here’s how it works: “Offerpal Payments” is now presented as a payment option in the offer/payment wall. With Offerpal Payments, users can purchase Offerpal Credits, which can then be redeemed within any application or game in the Offerpal network. Credits can be purchased via the traditional variety of payment options, including PayPal, credit card, Zong, Boku, Amazon, Spare Change, and the Ultimate Gamer Card.

“Offerpal Credits serve as a way to give consumers a viable option for purchasing and managing virtual currency across multiple applications, multiple platforms, and the open web,” Offerpal’s Matt McAllister told us.

“The product is in no way intended to cannibalize traffic from other payment providers in our platform – we actually intend to keep adding more payment platforms (including Facebook Credits). We also want to point out that Offerpal Credits is a 100% open platform and is available for anyone who wants to use it. Of course, this is still in its beta stage and will remain so for the time being.”

Overall, Offerpal’s decision to develop its own branded, quasi-universal virtual currency is an interesting move that’s designed to increase consumer loyalty and create network effects. While Facebook is obviously in the most natural position to create a truly “universal” virtual currency across its platform, leading monetization providers like Offerpal, Super Rewards, Peanut Labs, TrialPay, Sometrics, Gambit, and others are in good position to build programs like this to create more loyalty and less friction across their publisher networks.

We’ll let you know as we hear more from developers – both on this front and the Facebook Credits alpha tests as well. As always, tips to mail AT insidefacebook DOT com are appreciated.