1.1 BTC Puzzle by Phemex

[iluvbitcoins]

How this image can help to solve puzzle?

https://i.postimg.cc/3xp7RgF7/LB3.jpg

What the fuck is this? 
--

Maybe we get a small number from the portrait which is actually a big one
https://oeis.org/A137443/b137443.txt

21 957496696762772407663

[1714755342]

1714755342

[1714755342]

1714755342

[1714755342]

1714755342

[DaCryptoRaccoon]

How this image can help to solve puzzle?

https://i.postimg.cc/3xp7RgF7/LB3.jpg

What the fuck is this?  
--

Maybe we get a small number from the portrait which is actually a big one
https://oeis.org/A137443/b137443.txt

21 957496696762772407663

I was thinking along these lines or maybe we look for a big int in the list that has the desired number included I also checked on the keys.lol with some of the numbers from the clue but no luck.

I then thought about a brain wallet but with the use of the numbers rather than words as an idea.

If your looking on the OEIS database you will find the number "957496696762772407663" seem to replicate in this sequence over and over



It may be well off the mark but could it be possible we are looking for one of the larger numbers with the "957496696762772407663" included ?

[iluvbitcoins]

It's repeated exactly 64 times. The number would be
2134373941424350546368757683859091929310811111411812612812916416616823626627529 2293295298331334335337343345357368369396417427464468485499555579596621649671703 722788812839853963

But it can't be it

4. The next step involves converting some words from the portrait, without I/O, into a 27-digit number

We would completely skip the step.

[DaCryptoRaccoon]

It's repeated exactly 64 times. The number would be
2134373941424350546368757683859091929310811111411812612812916416616823626627529 2293295298331334335337343345357368369396417427464468485499555579596621649671703 722788812839853963

But it can't be it

4. The next step involves converting some words from the portrait, without I/O, into a 27-digit number

We would completely skip the step.

Could it be we need the two numbers one above and the 2nd one to combine them to get the big int

I have a feeling those number will be part of it the repetitions and values are no-coincidence in my view.

Lets say we have to take this large BIG and the Small from the next part and create the key that would point to some logic towards the puzzle.

[iluvbitcoins]

It's repeated exactly 64 times. The number would be
2134373941424350546368757683859091929310811111411812612812916416616823626627529 2293295298331334335337343345357368369396417427464468485499555579596621649671703 722788812839853963

But it can't be it

4. The next step involves converting some words from the portrait, without I/O, into a 27-digit number

We would completely skip the step.

Could it be we need the two numbers one above and the 2nd one to combine them to get the big int

I have a feeling those number will be part of it the repetitions and values are no-coincidence in my view.

Lets say we have to take this large BIG and the Small from the next part and create the key that would point to some logic towards the puzzle.

64 repetitions is indeed an interesting coincidence.

I'm unsure what we could do with so many digits. There's already 178 in that number.
I imagined we could Base58Check, but there's plenty of numbers over 58, so that's not an option.

[DaCryptoRaccoon]

It's repeated exactly 64 times. The number would be
2134373941424350546368757683859091929310811111411812612812916416616823626627529 2293295298331334335337343345357368369396417427464468485499555579596621649671703 722788812839853963

But it can't be it

4. The next step involves converting some words from the portrait, without I/O, into a 27-digit number

We would completely skip the step.

Could it be we need the two numbers one above and the 2nd one to combine them to get the big int

I have a feeling those number will be part of it the repetitions and values are no-coincidence in my view.

Lets say we have to take this large BIG and the Small from the next part and create the key that would point to some logic towards the puzzle.

64 repetitions is indeed an interesting coincidence.

I'm unsure what we could do with so many digits. There's already 178 in that number.
I imagined we could Base58Check, but there's plenty of numbers over 58, so that's not an option.

I think this puzzle has something to do with a brain wallet but not depending on words but rather numbers seem more likely I did notice someone has created a github with some tool for the puzzle

https://github.com/olalonde/phemex-puzzle

I have not tested this yet so if you use it make sure its in a VM or VPS setting as I cannot verify the authenticity of the code yet but from what I see it seems to have a lot of the stuff people are talking about in the topic.

I do believe that the above number or one of the numbers from the table I posted is going to be relevant I don't have much time at the moment to really get stuck into this one but I will keep on posting anything I find along the way.

I think the next step is to look into the possibly of brianwallet's with numbers and maybe words I think my guess about it being elliptic curve's on finite fields may be off course after seeing this post in the git..

https://github.com/olalonde/phemex-puzzle/issues/6

[iluvbitcoins]

The question is in a very weird format.

'I understand elliptic curve is to be researched and understand by us noobies. But is it required to use to reach the private key?'

So, we're supposed to understand it to get to the key, but not use it?
Though Max hasn't confirmed the first part of his question.

[DaCryptoRaccoon]

The question is in a very weird format.

'I understand elliptic curve is to be researched and understand by us noobies. But is it required to use to reach the private key?'

So, we're supposed to understand it to get to the key, but not use it?
Though Max hasn't confirmed the first part of his question.

Seems very strange indeed but I would think it would put out a lot of people from the puzzle if it we're calculating the points on the curve with the numbers we have been given. 

I wonder if any of the others will be able to spot anything with the numbers that we may be missing.  However I do have the feeling it's on the right path.

[iluvbitcoins]

The biggest problem is it's so time exhausting!
I get plenty of ideas but hashing each number, adding 80bytes, rehashing, converting, importing..
It would be so much easier if there was an automatic way to do this.

[Btchunter3333]

Ok. so after we found the big integer we need to conver it to private key with this method?

Convert your BigInteger to a byte array of a specific size, then use the first (leftmost) bytes to create a key. For this you need to know the size of the prime p used in DH, as the value needs to be left-padded to represent a key. I would suggest to use standardized DH parameters (or at least make sure that the size of the prime is dividable by .

Code:

public static byte[] encodeSharedSecret(final BigInteger sharedSecret, final int primeSizeBits) {

    // TODO assignment add additional tests on input

    final int sharedSecretSize = (primeSizeBits + Byte.SIZE - 1) / Byte.SIZE;

    final byte[] signedSharedSecretEncoding = sharedSecret.toByteArray();
    final int signedSharedSecretEncodingLength = signedSharedSecretEncoding.length;

    if (signedSharedSecretEncodingLength == sharedSecretSize) {
        return signedSharedSecretEncoding;
    }

    if (signedSharedSecretEncodingLength == sharedSecretSize + 1) {
        final byte[] sharedSecretEncoding = new byte[sharedSecretSize];
        System.arraycopy(signedSharedSecretEncoding, 1, sharedSecretEncoding, 0, sharedSecretSize);
        return sharedSecretEncoding;
    }

    if (signedSharedSecretEncodingLength < sharedSecretSize) {
        final byte[] sharedSecretEncoding = new byte[sharedSecretSize];
        System.arraycopy(signedSharedSecretEncoding, 0,
                sharedSecretEncoding, sharedSecretSize - signedSharedSecretEncodingLength, signedSharedSecretEncodingLength);
        return sharedSecretEncoding;
    }

    throw new IllegalArgumentException("Shared secret is too big");
}

Or is this wrong?

[pooya87]

The biggest problem is it's so time exhausting!
I get plenty of ideas but hashing each number, adding 80bytes, rehashing, converting, importing..
It would be so much easier if there was an automatic way to do this.

that is the easy part and it doesn't really take any more than a couple of seconds to compute thousands of possible cases. read my previous post, i tested about 1920 variations in about 3 seconds. it is not hashing by the way, it is elliptic curve point multiplication then hashing the public key (i did both compressed and uncompressed).
the hard part is figuring out what the hell this puzzle means and WHAT to try because it is the least clear puzzle i have ever seen and i've seen lots of them.

[o_e_l_e_o]

the hard part is figuring out what the hell this puzzle means and WHAT to try because it is the least clear puzzle i have ever seen and i've seen lots of them.

This. It's not really a puzzle when people are just blindly bruteforcing thousands of potential combinations. The whole point of a puzzle is that there should be logical clues which one can follow to reach the intended outcome. There was zero way to know we are meant to convert the words in to a number before he said so on his blog. There was zero way to know we are looking for a 27 digit number before he said so on his blog. And even with the additional "hints" he has released, there is still no logical path from start to finish. There are people on twitter and GitHub who have bruteforced hundreds of thousands of combinations and methods of turning those 4 words in to numbers, and combining those numbers with the 21 digit prime, and turning the result in to a private key. At this point, it is just a guessing game. Somebody might blindly stumble on the right answer, but it will be through sheer luck, not through any logical reasoning.

It's a bad puzzle, and it's only the size of the prize that is keeping people interested.

[chennappa121]

the hard part is figuring out what the hell this puzzle means and WHAT to try because it is the least clear puzzle i have ever seen and i've seen lots of them.

This. It's not really a puzzle when people are just blindly bruteforcing thousands of potential combinations. The whole point of a puzzle is that there should be logical clues which one can follow to reach the intended outcome. There was zero way to know we are meant to convert the words in to a number before he said so on his blog. There was zero way to know we are looking for a 27 digit number before he said so on his blog. And even with the additional "hints" he has released, there is still no logical path from start to finish. There are people on twitter and GitHub who have bruteforced hundreds of thousands of combinations and methods of turning those 4 words in to numbers, and combining those numbers with the 21 digit prime, and turning the result in to a private key. At this point, it is just a guessing game. Somebody might blindly stumble on the right answer, but it will be through sheer luck, not through any logical reasoning.

It's a bad puzzle, and it's only the size of the prize that is keeping people interested.

You are right brother what Phemex team has announced hits for puzzle it is not given clear points to all of us because there are many communication gaps are there between puzzle and us so I'm also considering this is very bad puzzle to understand. So no one is going to get solution for that until a Phemex  team gives solution for this puzzle.

[100bitcoin]

Phemex has declared that solution to this puzzle will be revealed on 21st of March, 2020. OP has been updated with all the known hints so far, to solve this puzzle.

[DutchDemon]

Phemex has declared that solution to this puzzle will be revealed on 21st of March, 2020. OP has been updated with all the known hints so far, to solve this puzzle.

Good to know that the solution will ultimately be published.

[Flangler]

the hard part is figuring out what the hell this puzzle means and WHAT to try because it is the least clear puzzle i have ever seen and i've seen lots of them.

This. It's not really a puzzle when people are just blindly bruteforcing thousands of potential combinations. The whole point of a puzzle is that there should be logical clues which one can follow to reach the intended outcome. There was zero way to know we are meant to convert the words in to a number before he said so on his blog. There was zero way to know we are looking for a 27 digit number before he said so on his blog. And even with the additional "hints" he has released, there is still no logical path from start to finish. There are people on twitter and GitHub who have bruteforced hundreds of thousands of combinations and methods of turning those 4 words in to numbers, and combining those numbers with the 21 digit prime, and turning the result in to a private key. At this point, it is just a guessing game. Somebody might blindly stumble on the right answer, but it will be through sheer luck, not through any logical reasoning.

It's a bad puzzle, and it's only the size of the prize that is keeping people interested.

You just understood the whole idea of this event. The main idea of this puzzle is to get the Phemex exchange more popular. When I showed this puzzle to my friend who is a senior developer he said that the puzzle is probably that hard that you have a miracle to solve. I'm not arguing that it isn't solvable but it requires a tons of free time.  Eventually, the puzzle will be solved probably by the person from Phemex and they will split the prize. Seeing how people with extreme knowledge about cryptographic and programming failed I really doubt someone from outside Phemex will solve it.

[AOL]

the hard part is figuring out what the hell this puzzle means and WHAT to try because it is the least clear puzzle i have ever seen and i've seen lots of them.

This. It's not really a puzzle when people are just blindly bruteforcing thousands of potential combinations. The whole point of a puzzle is that there should be logical clues which one can follow to reach the intended outcome. There was zero way to know we are meant to convert the words in to a number before he said so on his blog. There was zero way to know we are looking for a 27 digit number before he said so on his blog. And even with the additional "hints" he has released, there is still no logical path from start to finish. There are people on twitter and GitHub who have bruteforced hundreds of thousands of combinations and methods of turning those 4 words in to numbers, and combining those numbers with the 21 digit prime, and turning the result in to a private key. At this point, it is just a guessing game. Somebody might blindly stumble on the right answer, but it will be through sheer luck, not through any logical reasoning.

It's a bad puzzle, and it's only the size of the prize that is keeping people interested.

You just understood the whole idea of this event. The main idea of this puzzle is to get the Phemex exchange more popular. When I showed this puzzle to my friend who is a senior developer he said that the puzzle is probably that hard that you have a miracle to solve. I'm not arguing that it isn't solvable but it requires a tons of free time.  Eventually, the puzzle will be solved probably by the person from Phemex and they will split the prize. Seeing how people with extreme knowledge about cryptographic and programming failed I really doubt someone from outside Phemex will solve it.

You can not expect 1.1 BTC to just drop on your lap. Can you?

[pooya87]

The main idea of this puzzle is to get the Phemex exchange more popular.

that's what i also said on day 1.
but also i am starting to think that this kind of popularity may not end up well for them. specially if my suspicious about how this puzzle is going to be solved came true, i think an anonymous person is going to suddenly move the coins and they will claim that someone has solved the puzzle then release the solution pretending it was possible to solve while that anonymous person was the Phemex owner.

[Jimmy Wales]

The main idea of this puzzle is to get the Phemex exchange more popular.

that's what i also said on day 1.
but also i am starting to think that this kind of popularity may not end up well for them. specially if my suspicious about how this puzzle is going to be solved came true, i think an anonymous person is going to suddenly move the coins and they will claim that someone has solved the puzzle then release the solution pretending it was possible to solve while that anonymous person was the Phemex owner.

As long as they are releasing the solution, does it really matter whether an anonymous person is sweeping the fund or not? Public has got enough time to solve the puzzle and now we need to know whether the puzzle was really solvable or not. No?

[minairia3]

they will claim that someone has solved the puzzle then release the solution pretending it was possible to solve while that anonymous person was the Phemex owner.

This is possible but a move like this will surely bring down their reputation. Phemex releases a lot of hints but to be honest, even though they said its easy already, many still struggling to solve it. I think better that they just use that for giveaway to registering users rather than this crazy impossible puzzle thing to unlock.

As long as they are releasing the solution, does it really matter whether an anonymous person is sweeping the fund or not? Public has got enough time to solve the puzzle and now we need to know whether the puzzle was really solvable or not. No?

Yes of course, they should be transparent when it comes to this kind of contest or else their reputation will easily crumble. Just hoping someone can actually solve this. Cause they might just cancel it and used the hype over the weeks for that puzzle thing for promoting their site for free.