Bitcoin Millionaire Jon Collins-Black turned a lifetime’s focus into what he calls the greatest. A treasure hunt in American history.
Over the past few years, the entrepreneur and self-styled adventurer has hidden five treasures across the country, containing millions of dollars worth of valuables – from shipwreck gold doubloons and rare Pokémon cards to Michael Jordans. K’s Rookie Card and up to the currently valuable Bitcoin. At about $100,000.
The hunt is on with his new book, Inside is treasure, A 243-page guide filled with original stories of treasures, maps and puzzles designed to lead curious hunters to the loot.
“You don’t have to be a genius to solve the clues,” Collins-Blake wrote. The New York Post. “There is no grand cipher. If you have curiosity, imagination, and the desire to try something new, you can find the treasures I have hidden.”
The roots of this ambitious project stretch back to Collins-Blake’s childhood in North Carolina. Her father, a church minister, once built a log cabin by hand on a plot gifted to her mother by a congregant. While growing up there, Collins-Black spent her days chasing lizards, catching snakes and digging for treasure. “On Bali nights,” he recalls, “I wonder what the next day will bring me. But it was the hours spent at the Emerald Hollow Mine, just a short drive away, that left a deep impression. There, he hid He sifted through drains and dirt in search of hidden gems.
This early love of exploration and discovery influenced Collins-Blake’s mature endeavors. After achieving financial independence through Bitcoin investing and selling his self-help website, he wanted to find a treasure that would inspire others to embrace adventure and connect with nature.
The project gained momentum during the Covid-19 lockdown when Collins-Blake reflected on her love of adventure. He began amassing a collection of treasures designed to appeal to generations of hunters, including Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis’ diamond sapphire brooch, an Olympic gold medal, and a gold Picasso pendant.
These items are housed in unique puzzle boxes created by blacksmith Seth Gould, whose work is inspired by traditional Japanese designs. Collins-Black said The Guardian Of Containers: “A treasure chest that’s also a puzzle? My mind was like, ‘Pewww!’
To determine the hiding places, Collins-Blake conducted extensive research, studying maps and histories of locations across the United States, covering more than 100 miles during which he would finalize the locations. Described as a “mass reconnaissance” mission. None of the chests are buried or in dangerous places. All are within three miles of a public road and are situated on open land.
The hunt echoes a similar effort by art dealer Forrest Fan. which launched a treasure hunt in 2010 that attracted 350,000 participants and led to five deaths.. Collins Blake, who became aware of Fenn’s hunt in 2016, even joined the search, spending weeks in the Rockies before Fenn’s treasure was found in 2020.
Launched this month, the Collins-Black quest has already captured imaginations, with participants sharing ideas and starting their own quests. He estimates that it could take seven to ten years to discover all the treasures. Meanwhile, he will oversee progress from his home in the mountains west of Los Angeles, where he lives with his wife and two young children. “Kids are always digging and hiding things in the yard,” she noted. The Guardian. “They’re already collecting coins.”
For Collins-Black, hunting is more than a sport. It’s a way of evoking the same sense of wonder he felt as a boy. “A lot of people have a treasure hunter inside them,” she told the outlet: “Sometimes they don’t even realize it.”