As multiple people have remarked, the economy of the server has progressed at a pace I didn't see coming, and it's at a point where something needs to change. Starting today, the price of diamonds is no longer set server-wide. It will continue to target $1,000 but, crucially, it will now fluctuate with supply and demand. To sell diamonds, rather than going to the admin shop at the center of the map, you can now use the /ds command to pull up a shop interface similar to the marketplace, where you will be able to buy and sell diamonds as well as other commodities such as building materials, food, minerals and ores, and tools / weapons. The goal here is to make it profitable to engage in a wide variety of activities not solely limited to mining for diamonds. Now, whether you want to make money by farming, making tools, mining, or anything else, you'll have access to a marketplace to sell your goods without having to constantly restock chest shops or babysit your marketplace listings. The /ds shop has a physical location at Joja inc's public trading hall (located at 33, -60), but you also have the option to buy things from wherever you are for a delivery fee for added flexibility. This is a big change, and it may not work out perfectly at first, but it's a step in the right direction of incentivizing things other than strip mining four blocks above bedrock 24x7.Â
The chest shops and marketplace will remain open and available for you to use to conduct 1-on-1 trades, but the addition of the /ds (dynamic shop) creates yet another way to make your fortune in game. This is step one in stabilizing the economy, and more changes may be coming, but I haven't made any yet. Feedback is, of course, always welcome.