The Trithemius Wealth in Poetry Puzzle

[heyhay]

From searches, I cannot find any thread in this forum about the Wealth in Poetry puzzle by Trithemius. So, I will start one.

• Address: 1K4ezpLybootYF23TM4a8Y4NyP7auysnRo
• Amount: 0.03124630 BTC
• Date: February 11, 2019
• Status: Unsolved as of October 20, 2026
• Author: Trithemius, aka OneSourGrape, aka Sharon & Philippe
• Text: Direct link, earliest archive

Here are a few references, which lead to more references. I am not affiliated with these sites, and I do not endorse them; these are only links I found useful.

• Reference: https://github.com/floflo777/open-crypto-puzzles/tree/main/2-mid-prizes/wealth-in-poetry-0-03btc
• Reference: https://puzzles.agntn.dev/collections/wealth-in-poetry (for convenience, this file is said to be an exact text copy)
• Reference: https://privatekeys.pw/puzzles/0.03-btc-coinmonks-puzzle

This post may be edited to add or update information. I will start discussion with my next post.

[heyhay]

My observation, I did not see anyone say anywhere:

It is noted by others, the puzzle author cites BIP-39, and then gives an example seed phrase with Electrum old wordlist. I myself think this is no accident. It must be a clue.

The author seems well-informed. Expert. I think they are playing dumb, not making a mistake. But what do they try to say with the discrepancy?

I guess it signals they did not use whatever wordlists others will use to try to solve it. All your CPU/GPU cycles are a waste. Seven years, almost eight years of money sitting there with an unsolved puzzle! It says all approaches are wrong.

In a puzzle designed as an essay about hiding information in text, I predict the only way to solve it is to get inside the head of the author. Read it as they read it. The puzzle was made to be intractable to computing power.

If Trithemius wrote an essay to hide a real wallet backup, what self-reminders may be needed? If Trithemius read the BIP-39 reference followed by Electrum phrase, what memory would it jog? It is by asking such questions, I reach my above conclusions.