Bitcoin millionaire Jon Collins-Black has turned a lifelong fascination into what he has called the largest treasure hunt in US history.
Over the past few years, the entrepreneur and self-proclaimed adventurer has hidden five treasure chests across the country, containing millions of dollars worth of valuables — from shipwreck gold doubloons and rare Pokémon cards to a Michael Jordan rookie card and a physical Bitcoin currently valued at nearly $100,000.
The hunt is accompanied by his new book, There’s Treasure Inside, a 243-page guide filled with origin stories of the 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-Black wrote, according to the New York Post. “There’s no grand cipher. If you have curiosity, imagination, and the willingness to try something new, you can find the treasures that I’ve hidden.”
The roots of this ambitious project stretch back to Collins-Black’s childhood in North Carolina. His father, a church minister, once built his mother a log cabin by hand on a plot of land gifted by a congregant. While growing up there, Collins-Black spent his days chasing lizards, sneaking up on snakes, and digging for treasure. “On balmy nights, I’d wonder what I might find the next day,” he recalls. But it was the hours spent at Emerald Hollow Mine, a short drive away, that left the deepest impression. There, he sifted through creeks and dirt in search of hidden gems.
This early love of exploration and discovery inspired Collins-Black’s adult endeavors. Having built financial independence through Bitcoin investments and selling a self-help website, he wanted to create a treasure hunt that would encourage others to embrace adventure and connect with nature.
The project gained momentum during the Covid-19 lockdown when Collins-Black reflected on his love for adventure. He began assembling a collection of treasures designed to appeal to hunters across generations, including Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis’s diamond sapphire brooch, Olympic gold medals, and even a gold pendant by Picasso.
The items are housed in unique puzzle boxes commissioned from blacksmith Seth Gould, whose work draws inspiration from traditional Japanese designs. Collins-Black told The Guardian of the containers: “A treasure box that’s also a puzzle? My mind was like, ‘Pewww!’”
To determine the hiding spots, Collins-Black conducted extensive research, studying maps and histories of locations across the U.S. He hiked over 100 miles during what he describes as a “massive reconnaissance” mission to finalize the spots. None of the chests are buried or in dangerous locations; all are within three miles of a public road and situated on open land.
The hunt echoes a similar endeavor by Forrest Fenn, an art dealer who launched a treasure hunt in 2010 that attracted 350,000 participants and led to five deaths. Collins-Black, 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. The discovery left him deflated but motivated.
Launched this month, Collins-Black’s quest has already captured imaginations, with participants sharing theories and beginning their searches. He estimates it could take seven to ten years for all the treasures to be discovered. Meanwhile, he’ll monitor progress from his home in the mountains west of Los Angeles, where he lives with his wife and two young children. “The kids are always digging and hiding things in the yard,” he noted to The Guardian. “They already collect coins.”
For Collins-Black, the hunt is more than a game; it’s a way to ignite the same sense of wonder he felt as a boy. “There’s a treasure hunter inside a lot of people,” he told the outlet: “Sometimes they don’t even realize it.”
