Like BitVegas.
This was attempted once by me and some others and failed horribly because none of us actually knew how to use Bukkit and Java effectively.
Now, I do know how to do that. But I'm a bit worried about the logistics of something like this (well, it's unlikely I'll actually attempt this, I'm more just curious), especially linking a Bitcoin client or API to Minecraft plugins. Withdrawals might even have to be manual.
I could probably code a decent amount of games, too, but that's not the goal here as I'd much prefer something more entertaining like BitVegas' VIP system. Granted I could probably build that, but...
There's the issue of laws, too, though that's something I can deal with myself.
Not everything would be custom coded, it's likely (like I mentioned earlier) that this server would have a Bukkit/Spigot backend for very light use. The majority of it would be custom-coded. Still, I have respect for how BitVegas managed this ridiculously well.
How would you approach this?
You can use BlockCypher for faster and less expense on the server, use Bukkit for a user system and world editing then yes the rest is custom coded.
Hmm, that does indeed seem useful. I wouldn't want to run a server like this myself (probably someone else would handle the running), but I'm definitely interested in how it'd all come together. You could probably even use something like EssentialsEco and make it more subtle, disabling
all the other Essentials features (and most Bukkit features) to make it seem more vanilla, and then hook into your custom-coded plugins. I don't think it'd be too hard to cash out either (just make a plugin that hooks into EssentialsEco and sends an API call).