Over $2 million in loot hidden by Bitcoin investor in US

A wealthy entrepreneur and Bitcoin investor, has launched an exciting treasure hunt across the US, offering over $2 million in hidden treasure.

Jon Collins-Black, who amassed his wealth through Bitcoin investments, spent several years collecting valuable items, from gold doubloons salvaged from shipwrecks to rare Pokémon cards, with the intent of hiding them in secret locations for others to find, Caliber.Az reports via foreign media. 

He has accompanied this treasure hunt with a book titled There’s Treasure Inside, which includes puzzles, maps, and all the necessary clues to uncover the treasure chests.

“You don’t have to be a genius to solve the clues. There’s no grand cypher. If you have curiosity, imagination, and the willingness to try something new, you can find the treasures that I’ve hidden,” Collins-Black stated. 

The items hidden in the chests were carefully chosen to appeal to a wide variety of treasure hunters, with some chests containing sports trading cards, such as Michael Jordan’s 1986 rookie card, while others hold gold and historical artifacts.

Among the valuable items are a diamond and sapphire brooch once owned by Jacqueline Onassis, a fourth-century BCE gold Greek laurel, a coin designed and minted by Pablo Picasso, and a rare piece of lunar rock.

Also included in the treasure is a single Bitcoin, currently valued at nearly $100,000, with its worth likely to increase by the time its chest is discovered. Collins-Black has assured participants that none of the chests are hidden in dangerous locations. They are all placed in open areas and not buried, with each one situated within 3 miles of a public road and none located on private property. 

“I created this treasure hunt because I live for adventure,” Collins-Black said of the project, which he conceived during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. “I hope to ignite that same sense of wonder and curiosity in everyone who joins this journey,” he added, according to WKRC.

Collins-Black is not the first eccentric millionaire to hide a chest of treasure and leave behind a puzzle of clues. Around 2010, New Mexico art dealer Forrest Fenn concealed a chest filled with gold and jewels, valued at about $2 million, somewhere in the Rocky Mountains, and published a poem with clues leading to its location. 

For a decade, the treasure remained undiscovered — with at least five people dying in the search — until Fenn announced in June 2020 that it had been found. However, Fenn never revealed the identity of the finder, and his death months later left many questioning whether the treasure had truly been found.

By Naila Huseynova