Mojang Asks Minecraft Server to Stop Bitcoin Rewards

Mojang, the creator of Minecraft and a subsidiary of Microsoft, has asked the independent Satlantis server to halt its play-to-earn feature that paid players in Bitcoin. David Dineno, the founder of the server, conveyed this in a recent Discord announcement.

Satlantis allowed its users to gain and cash out tiny Bitcoin sums. But Dineno advised participants to cash out their satoshis—Bitcoin’s tiniest unit—since this feature will cease by 12 p.m. ET on Monday. While this might be disappointing for many, Dineno remains optimistic about the future.

He expressed his frustration, saying, “This sucks. There’s no getting around that.” But Dineno assures that Satlantis is here to stay. Highlighting the success of their model, he said, “‘The Game That Shares its Profits With Players’ works. And it works well.” Despite the setback, he believes the effort and resources invested won’t go to waste. The team has plans to transition the Satlantis community to another more supportive platform.

Furthermore, even after the deadline, players can still claim their Bitcoin outside of Satlantis. The server will also transfer all earned amounts, in-game artifacts, and player rankings to the upcoming game platform. Satlantis won’t shut down; however, it will no longer offer Bitcoin earnings.

When discussing Mojang’s intervention, Dineno clarified, “This is not at all something I wanted to do. I didn’t have a choice.” According to him, Mojang would have blocked the server and taken strict action against their server host if they resisted.

Interestingly, this isn’t an isolated incident. Minecraft joins a list of major games taking a stand against in-game cryptocurrency transactions. Last year, Rockstar Games declared a ban on NFTs and cryptocurrencies for Grand Theft Auto V, after noticing an uptick in servers selling NFTs symbolizing rare in-game items like vehicles.