First of all, my apologies that it has taken me way too long to settle this debt. I was put in a very tough spot financially about a couple years ago, and have been struggling ever since then to get my feet back under me financially. I have been working very hard this year to get back on my feet, that along with the help of my family to provide me a place to live, has finally allowed me to finally be in a position to be able to pay this bounty.
I stopped responding here a long time ago because at the time there was nothing I could do to fix the situation, and nothing good would have come of it other than a good show of poo slinging for the spectators (which was all this thread was good for the last few pages.) I decided to let the naysayers continue talking without refuting their ignorant claims of me being a scammer, as most of them were people I've butted heads with in the past and they were just using this as a prime opportunity to pounce and drag my name through the mud. None of them know me personally, knew of my future intentions regarding making this debt whole whenever I was able to, or the full story of my personal financial situation as I have not shared everything here publicly on the forums. Some things are too personal to put out there on the internet and are quite frankly no one's business.
I had the option to take the easy way out. A friend of mine that submitted a design in the competition offered around December of 2013 to send me 5 Bitcoins, me declare him the winner, and then me send the 5 Bitcoins back to him. Despite the trolling and scammer accusations I was receiving, I decided that I would not take him up on this offer. I decided that I would keep my integrity and would judge the contest fairly, awarding the bounty to the design I like best whenever I was able to actually pay the bounty. I knew in my heart I was not a scammer. I knew that I was a honest person with good intentions that simply fell into a tough situation, and knowing that was all that mattered to me at the time. "Shit happens" as they say.
Along with that extreme act of kindness, I offer my sincere gratitude to those of you that had my back and offered kind words and support during this predicament via PMs and other communication methods. It was you guys that helped me through this hard time, when I could of easily walked away and truly been the scammer that all of the "haters" were accusing me of being. That would have been so easy to do honestly as nothing but a negative reputation on a Bitcoin forum, that hardly anyone knows or cares about in the real world, would have been the only thing that came of it. However, I am a man with integrity and that was never really an option that I considered at any point throughout all of this.
Two years later I am finally able to pay this debt. I will announce the winner when I have the coins available (EDIT: I was wrong about how long it will take the payment to clear) in about a week. To avoid the conspiracy theorists and more trolling, I will provide proof it is actually me buying the Bitcoins for the bounty. Along with the screenshot I will be sending the transaction with a comment referencing this contest and my name to whichever Bitcoin address the winner posts here ITT. I will not be able to fulfill all of the terms in the OP, or at least not immediately. I am honestly not sure I will ever mint another physical crypto currency in my lifetime as I'm not sure anyone truly trusts me to do so after this silly debacle. Among other things, such as losing my original domain name and some domain sniper wanting to charge me $2k+ to buy my old domain back. I will be adding 1 Bitcoin to the bounty and my word that if I am ever to mint a physical Bitcoin that I will do my best to fulfill all of the other terms of the original competition that remain unedited in the OP to this day.
I am looking forward to putting this behind me and becoming a contributing member to the crypto community, as my passion for decentralized technology has never wavered and am excited for what the future holds. Without further ado, here is the proof the bounty is on its way, and I look forward to announcing the winner soon.
