Back in late 2015 I resurrected and inspected the infamous bitcoin-blockchain assassination market from 2013 by ‘Kuwabatake Sanjuro’, noting that the 180 BTC were only ever entered over a short period and never cashed out.

Using this data, I was able to infer no ‘trade’ ever took place on the market and that it was an attempted scam which never collected anyone’s bitcoins. Unlike on Augur, blockchain based murder ain’t happening just yet kids.

Still, January 2018 has come and gone and it looks like putting one’s own money into a scam site has paid off. 180 BTC in November 2013 would have been worth $12 each, meaning the scam ‘investment’ was $2,160 of Bitcoins, though that amount could have been relatively cheaply mined instead.

Many thanks to Gabo Orsaniti who recently noted that the whole operation was cashed out in late March 2018, at the price of $7,350 per bitcoin. This means the total value at that time was $1,323,000.

An interesting question was if the person ever came forward, would he be arrested? It’s a crime in most jurisdictions to ‘incite murder’ but if you attract no customers, would you ever be charged? Even if so, he could afford a good lawyer.

Well played Sanjuro.