https://www.pcgamer.com/rare-to-abandon-sea-of-thieves-death-cost-following-complaints/

Shortly after the release of Sea of Thieves last week, Rare announced that it planned to introduce a new penalty upon death. Basically, every (in-game) death would be met with what came to be known as "the death cost": a fine of (in-game) gold. Presumably, this was designed to incentivize a fairly important part of the game: staying alive.

The announcement was met with criticism, mainly because Sea of Thieves' in-game gold is hard enough to get as it is. The game's hefty grind is one of several complaints its player base have at the moment, so Rare is ditching the tax.