Does the image has anything to do with it ??
Image is the key to everything..
A purely P2P version of
modular values would allow online payments to be sent directly from one party to another without going through the
fractional reserve banking system.
Digital signatures provide part of the solution, but the main benefits are lost if a trusted third party is still required to prevent private key recovery. We propose a solution to the problem using a peer-to-peer network. The network
spacestamps information by carefully measuring it into an ongoing chain of phylo-based proof-of-equivalence, forming a
record that cannot be changed without redoing the proof-of-equivalence. The chain not only serves as proof of the sequence of events witnessed, but proof that it serves the chain. The network itself
requires minimal structure.
looks bad this
bearish cycle around and no end is in sight, so here's a puzzle for everyone,
no loose ends, no hashing.
I highlited the parts that on first sight look interesting. The picture is the key, one key. Another key is the "0d1vHyLWQXkQWZBhfQmZWu8jgXA54DgLx+bPJQNBrL4AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABbiQspK6Gr2bE". Those two, when "combined" form what i can guess either private key or public key which is obvious, so a dumb statement from me, my guess its a public key from both parts that need some kind of combining to get the real public key, and perhaps using kangaroo afterwards to get the private key.. The key from the picture is most likely something "simple", doesnt require some complex sequence of operations to extract the data. Or it could be that both of those hints, are a signed message, which makes sence since the signature is mentioned in the text. Also "Signature: A Base64-encoded cryptographic string (65 bytes) that links the message to the address" which kinda fits into the whole "missing 1 char" since that part has only 64 bytes, and with that one missing would make it 65 bytes in total.
So you have 1 signature, picture that requires something basic to decipher, pgp message that when decoded by "already mentioned" password - gives "." and the fact 1 char is missing from the "0d1vHyLWQXkQWZBhfQmZWu8jgXA54DgLx+bPJQNBrL4AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABbiQspK6Gr2bE", which i suppose could be easily "brute forced" to find that one that is missing.
All in all, a really interesting challenge, i like it