Hi all,
I'm an author and a bitcoiner since 2017. I've spent the last months building a free treasure hunt where "don't trust, verify" is the actual rule. I'd like to present it here, and above all its tools, because I want people who will try to break it.
The hunt- 24 chests, one per month for two years, starting January 3, 2027 at 18:15:05 UTC.
- Two riddles per month. Two riddles give the key to a chest; the first to rebuild it sweeps the chest.
- Free, no sign-up, no KYC. Nothing is promised: no gain, no price tomorrow.
- Before the main hunt, hunt zero on November 3: three chests already on-chain (134,228 sats each), so anyone can walk the full circuit for real, from riddle to sweep.
The tools, and what each one lets you check- The Stone: the rulebook of the hunt. Its SHA-256 is engraved in an OP_RETURN. The program must obey it, and anyone can compare.
- The offline machine: a Raspberry Pi that never touches a network, for good. It holds the seed, seeds the chests, signs the messages and the engravings. Everything leaves it on a USB stick, as public data or signed transactions.
- Signed messages: every announcement is signed (BIP-322) by a single published address. Nobody can speak in my name, not even a hacked website.
- On-chain engravings: the hunt manifests, the author's seal and the fingerprints of the novel's certified editions are engraved in OP_RETURN before they matter.
- Time-locked riddles: the riddles and hints are sealed in advance and open at their date, not before.
- GodGift Core: a free program (AGPL; Windows, Mac, Linux, and a web version) that checks everything outside my site: chests, balances, signatures, engravings. Installer fingerprints are published and designated by a signed message.
- A depositary: if I disappear, someone holds what the hunt needs to go on. It is written in the terms.
The novel"The Angel of the Water" comes out on October 31. It goes with the hunt but is not part of it: no riddle inside, no advantage in buying it. The same day, I publish the signed announcement, which you can verify without trusting me.
Verify before believingHow it works:
https://angedeleau.com/comment-ca-marche?lang=en&s=bttHunt zero:
https://angedeleau.com/chasse-zero?lang=en&s=bttGodGift Core and its fingerprints:
https://angedeleau.com/godgift?lang=en&s=bttQuestions, objections and attempts to break the model are welcome here. I'll answer everything except hints, of course.
