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Minecraft Economics: How the Nether Update uses the Subjective Theory of Value

What is an emerald worth in Minecraft?


An emerald is the currency used in the popular game Minecraft for trading with NPCs called villagers and wandering traders. Emerald ore is an extremely rare resource in the sandbox world, yet every employed villager has quite a few to trade with the player. However, players have wondered how the emerald compares with real world currency. One YouTube Video by GameTheory tried to find this answer. First, they tried to convert it by comparing the USD cost of bread with the cost of bread in the game, but found that conversion does not translate to other goods. Next they used the labor theory of value to try to determine the USD to emerald conversion, but again came up with a nonsensical conversion. Finally, they tried to assume emeralds have an inherent value in real life and work backwards to determine the in-game USD cost. After using all of these methods, they come to the accurate conclusion that it's not really possible to convert emeralds i…
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Crypto Bans & Privacy Coins





Deep in the heart of New Delhi, among the bustling traffic & hints of curry, lies one of the world’s largest and most powerful criminal organizations - the government of India. Like similar groups of bandits, the Indian government enjoys a coercive monopoly on fiat currency, which they use to siphon wealth off their victims. Overseeing this particular heist, is a section of the gang known colloquially as the Reserve Bank of India.

It’s widely believed that the RBI is behind India’s expected ban on cryptocurrencies next month, although they deny any involvement. Frightened by the prospect of losing their monopoly on money - or rather, their monopoly money - the gang is threatening cryptocurrency users with 10 years in one of their lackluster cages.

It’s worth noting that although this is the first such ban to be proposed, other governments seeking to protect their monopolies are watching the situation in India closely, and if all goes well - are likely to follow suit.

When that day comes, not only will the agorist community be ready, we intend to make a profit. Any such ban will necessarily affect a sharp rise in the value of all privacy coins. Moreover, in a general sense, these coins are particularly well suited for counter-economic purposes.



What is a Privacy Coin & What Makes Them Private?  


One of bitcoin’s wonderful features is it’s open, public ledger. This level of transparency, however, comes with some drawbacks. Anyone can see your wallet, it’s balance and your transaction history. This problem is alleviated a bit in the BTC community by using Coin Joins, for which Wasabi Wallet is well-known, or in the BCH community by using Cash Shuffle on wallets like Electron. Based on my recent chat with Craig Wright, I don’t expect to see the BSV community ever implement any such privacy features. Nevertheless, the fact remains: privacy is not a native feature of any version of bitcoin.

Enter privacy coins.

Privacy coins are cryptocurrencies that utilize features designed to mask data surrounding a transaction. Some concealable data points include the identity of the sender and/or recipient, the amount of the transaction, as well as wallet balances.

Some of the features used to accomplish these tasks include, but are not limited to:

  1. Ring Signatures are used to mask senders.
  2. Stealth Addresses are used to mask recipients.
  3. Ring Confidential Transactions (RCT) mask the transaction amount.
  4. PrivateSend

Monero & Dash are two of my favorite privacy coins currently available for counter-economic purposes. Monero uses features 1-3, making it private by default. Dash makes good use of a secondary layer of masternodes to enable it’s PrivateSend feature. Either one of these options should keep you safe from the prying eyes of the parasites infesting the Indian Parliament.

It’s also worth mentioning there are a host of other privacy coins out there to choose from. Edward Snowden famously expressed support for ZCash:


On episode 42 of The Agora, cyber-security expert John McAffee endorsed Apollo. Apollo’s list of features are indeed impressive to say the least. The project aims to incorporate all of the existing privacy features mentioned above with IP masking, encrypted data transport, an encrypted messaging service, it’s own dedicated, decentralized and untraceable marketplace, uncensorable cloud-based file storage, a token platform, and a decentralized exchange!

The Indian government can go to hell.


Technology is outpacing governments & as they grow increasingly desperate, their actions will become increasingly irrational, just as a thief being strangled will flail and kick as he nears his last breath.

It’s important to remember that we’re ready for this. We’ve been expecting it and have developed the tools necessary to fight the bastards off. Check out the wallets and coins mentioned above, use a VPN & run a full node on Tor.

They can't stop progress.


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