I found a Java SMP server that is based on Towny and it has an economy. The whole world is a custom United States map at 1 to 125 scale so traveling and picking a spot feels cool.
It is small but super active and it can hit around 40 players when it is busy with a 60 player cap. A lot of the mountains are still empty so there is tons of room to start a town and build it up.
There are different nations you can join and there are lots of places to choose from like Cascadia the desert Appalachia and the Great Lakes. The mods are really responsive to suggestions and feedback.
The nether just reset and the currency is gold so it feels like a good time to jump in. It runs on 1.21.7 or above and there is a live map you can use too.
