Disclaimer: Cointelegraph considers speculation on the deaths of individuals as immoral and does not endorse it in any way
So-called “assassination markets” have now popped up on blockchain event betting platform Augur, Mashable[1] media outlet reported July 24. Users are now betting on when certain public figures will die.
Created by the non-profit Forecast Foundation[2], Augur launched[3] its Ethereum[4] (ETH) mainnet-powered predictions platform on July 9, according to Fortune[5]. On the platform, users can make a prediction about the outcome of any event.
If a user believes the outcome will happen, they buy shares with ETH. If a user believes the event will not occur, they can short the bet by selling shares. In either case, should a user’s prediction come true, they can profit from the result.
Users have recently posted bets on Augur regarding the deaths of a number of public figures, such as the U.S.[6] president Donald Trump[7] and CEO at Berkshire Hathaway Warren Buffett[8]. The bet "Will Donald Trump (President of The USA) be killed at any point during 2018," has acquired 50.3 shares as of July 23.
Augur “Assassination Market” Screenshot. Source: Mashable[9]
This is not the first example of an assassination market. Back in 2013, an online market was created where users set out to fund[10] the assassinations of Ben Bernanke and American president Barack Obama. While the current markets on Augur merely place a bet on whether such an event will happen, should the wager be high enough it could still create an incentive for someone to carry out the
