ARG Puzzle with 3.5 BTC Private Key Prize, Game Over

[Izerian]

For c# fans

This assumes the "z69JZ..." above uses an alpha "O" instead of a numeric "0".

Converted from the posted code snippet earlier. (Thanks)

Code:

    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            Test();
        }

        static string alph = "0123456789ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz";
        static void Test()
        {
            string s = "z69JZqlJn862D1ndx7oLVEMmVOlP1zewEeUCrsI7Roahzpeny7P";
            string p = "6EQUJ5";

            int i = 0;
            while (i < s.Length)
            {
                int n = idxof(s[i], alph);
                int v = idxof(p[i % p.Length], alph);
                v = (v + n) % 62;
                Console.Write(alph[v]);
                i++;
            }
            Console.WriteLine();
            Console.WriteLine("Press any key");
            Console.ReadKey();
        }

        static int idxof(char c, string alphabet){
            for (int i = 0; i < alphabet.Length; i++)
                if (alphabet[i] == c){ return i; }
            
            return -1;
        }
    }

[1715156670]

1715156670

[1715156670]

1715156670

[mirth23]

Ok, here's some collected thoughts (yet again). What have we got?

1) 0=0A=10BABYA=36 (0=0 A=10 a=36)

I am 95% certain this is the description of a mapping of [0-10A-Za-z] to numbers starting with 0. It tells you the three starting points of each substring in the list. All other interpretations that I have seen make no sense to me.

This mapping could have two uses: character shifting or transformation.

2) The hidden XMP data.

This seems to cross out all the data on the left. It also crosses out the 51 byte string. Lastly, it appears to highlight the positional codes in the RT. ASCEN section (or possibly cross them out). It even points at the 6 in '36' which seemed noteworthy since 6 shifts is what's needed to turn the z into a 5. OP went to the trouble to hide this XMP data so we should assume that it must somehow hint at the solution.

3) z69JZqlJn862D1ndx7oLVEMmVOlP1zewEeUCrsI7Roahzpeny7P

Most of us have shifted the hell out of this in various straightforward ways. Several of us have used the WOW signal strength as an alphabet cipher key, and at least a couple of us have used series of timecodes over on the right as a cipher key. It either doesn't want to want to turn into a private key address, or we're barking up the wrong tree.

Interestingly enough, it appears to be vigorously crossed out by the XMP. This made me wonder if there is some sort of 3733T instructional message hidden in it, but I wonder that less and less with OP's more recent hints.

4) CHANNEL NUMBER (TWO DIGITS, WRITTEN VERTICALLY)

This was recreated by OP for this image, but was text from the original document. It's possible that OP preserved it as some sort of hint. That said, most instances of "two digits, written vertically" are crossed out by the XMP.

5) Some timecode and other data on the right

This stuff is not crossed out by the XMP, some of it seems to be specifically called out by the XMP, but it's not clear what to do with it. It seems worth calling out because I think it's been largely ignored.

6) Various OP clues

"Final countdown" - Either we're near the end, or it is somehow referring to the time codes that are called out in the XMP.

wow + crops - we need to use something from the Crops puzzle. I am assuming the character map, but could there be more?

6EQUJ5 - This is the Wow signal strength. We must need to use this somehow, but it doesn't work as a key.

No sha or hash needed - any transforms we solve will be relatively straightforward

the prize awaits you
the final palindrome is key: hints at wow being a cypher key?
once small is now tall: all uppercase?

[Kangaderoo]

note: unrelated...!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kryptos

Just in case you want to crack some more puzzles in the future....

part four is still unsolved...

[Mitchell]

the prize awaits you
the final palindrome is key
once small is now tall

Here is the next hint guys! We are close! I can smell the BTC and it smells like fiat free money!

[Timmmaahh]

OP is killing my sleep :'D

[Mitchell]

OP is killing my sleep :'D

OP is killing everyone's sleep. I have had this puzzle in my mind for over a week now and the sad thing is that I can barely contribute since I don't get half of the stuff you guys post. I could help out a bit with the MC related stuff, but that's all.

[arg]

Ok, here's some collected thoughts (yet again). What have we got?

1) 0=0A=10BABYA=36 (0=0 A=10 a=36)

I am 95% certain this is the description of a mapping of [0-10A-Za-z] to numbers starting with 0. It tells you the three starting points of each substring in the list. All other interpretations that I have seen make no sense to me.

This mapping could have two uses: character shifting or transformation.

2) The hidden XMP data.

This seems to cross out all the data on the left. It also crosses out the 51 byte string. Lastly, it appears to highlight the positional codes in the RT. ASCEN section (or possibly cross them out). It even points at the 6 in '36' which seemed noteworthy since 6 shifts is what's needed to turn the z into a 5. OP went to the trouble to hide this XMP data so we should assume that it must somehow hint at the solution.

3) z69JZqlJn862D1ndx7oLVEMmVOlP1zewEeUCrsI7Roahzpeny7P

Most of us have shifted the hell out of this in various straightforward ways. Several of us have used the WOW signal strength as an alphabet cipher key, and at least a couple of us have used series of timecodes over on the right as a cipher key. It either doesn't want to want to turn into a private key address, or we're barking up the wrong tree.

Interestingly enough, it appears to be vigorously crossed out by the XMP. This made me wonder if there is some sort of 3733T instructional message hidden in it, but I wonder that less and less with OP's more recent hints.

4) CHANNEL NUMBER (TWO DIGITS, WRITTEN VERTICALLY)

This was recreated by OP for this image, but was text from the original document. It's possible that OP preserved it as some sort of hint. That said, most instances of "two digits, written vertically" are crossed out by the XMP.

5) Some timecode and other data on the right

This stuff is not crossed out by the XMP, some of it seems to be specifically called out by the XMP, but it's not clear what to do with it. It seems worth calling out because I think it's been largely ignored.

6) Various OP clues

"Final countdown" - Either we're near the end, or it is somehow referring to the time codes that are called out in the XMP.

wow + crops - we need to use something from the Crops puzzle. I am assuming the character map, but could there be more?

6EQUJ5 - This is the Wow signal strength. We must need to use this somehow, but it doesn't work as a key.

No sha or hash needed - any transforms we solve will be relatively straightforward

the prize awaits you
the final palindrome is key: hints at wow being a cypher key?
once small is now tall: all uppercase?

Haha, yes, well about that. Lets list the invalid keys shall we?

Code:

https://mega.co.nz/#!GVVHwJLT!WDLXR8yQTiJiYeHjXzbm93xiHxgcF_vIhMWToLzjpxI

I'm getting nowhere fast.

[Gatekeeper]

Portrait is a "shared start point."

Public Address: 1HXUobwcB19cGDrghuh42HDdJdJvrJUEra

the prize awaits you
the final palindrome is key
once small is now tall




#2103

[Gatekeeper]

Guys, I believe it's a shift of the original text.
Each character is shifted within the 62 character alphabet described by Crops clue.  
The amount to shift is given by the WOW signal characters.  

This program, for example transforms the "z69JZ..." string into

5KZnsvrXDcP7JFD7GCuZvifrbcBtK4kAe8nHx6ibktgvPJxs4Lp

Notice how the first two characters changed to 5K ? That's what private keys start with.  However, the answer I get doesn't transform into a valid private key since the checksum doesn't match.  I'm posting my program in the hopes someone else has a better variation.  I just want this thing over...

Code:

#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>

char* alph = "0123456789ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz";

int idxof(char c, char* alphabet) {
    int i;
    for (i=0;i<strlen(alphabet);i++){
        if (alphabet[i] == c) { return i; }
    }
    return -1;
}

main()
{
    char* s = "z69JZqlJn862D1ndx7oLVEMmVOlP1zewEeUCrsI7Roahzpeny7P";
    char* p = "6EQUJ5";

    int i =0;
    int n;
    while (i < strlen(s)) {
        int n = idxof(s[i],alph);
        int v = idxof(p[i%strlen(p)],alph);
        v=(v+n) % 62;
        printf ("%c",alph[v]);
        i++;
    }
    printf ("\n");
}

EDIT: I believe there is either more after the 6EQUJ5 or the algorithm is slightly off.  Remember, if you are trying variations of the 'p' string, you must only use characters from the alphabet.  So no punctuation or spaces.

answer is in here somewhere

[LtPaxIV]

lol someone got it
 pls explain

it was send to a wallet that already has a huge amount of coins 

[xELx]

lol someone got it
 pls explain

it was send to a wallet that already has a huge amount of coins 

Yea seems a bit odd that someone with almost a million $ worth in coin is trying to solve a puzzle for $2000~.

[Yemmster]

Yeah that was very anticlimactic...

[LtPaxIV]

i think gatekeeper has it solved.would u be so kind and explain what u did?

[arg]

So what was it? And why does somebody with a million dollars need to play games like this? 

I mean come on, they're on the top 100 richest addresses.

[escrow.ms]

Oh well I'm trying it from several hours It's  4am here now and i can't do it anymore..
I did some mistake, probably you guys can do it properly.

OP said A = 10  BabyA a =36

Now take a look at your keyboard.

QWERTYUIOP  Q=0 W=1 E=2 R=3 T=4 Y=5 U=6 I=7 O=8 P=9
ASDFGHJKL A=10 s=11 D=12 F13 G14 H15 J16 K17 L18
ZXCVBNM Z19 X20 C21 V22 B23 N24 M25

Now if we will carry digits to lower case
qwertyuiop q=26 w27 e28 r29 t30 y31 u32 i33 o34 p35
asdfghjkl a=36 s37 d38 f39 g40 h41 j42 k43 l44
zxcvbnm z45 x46 c47 v48 b49 n50 m51



Edit: LOL It's gone..

[Izerian]

Oh well I'm trying it from several hours It's  4am here now and i can't do it anymore..
I did some mistake, probably you guys can do it properly.

OP said A = 10  BabyA a =36

Now take a look at your keyboard.

QWERTYUIOP  Q=0 W=1 E=2 R=3 T=4 Y=5 U=6 I=7 O=8 P=9
ASDFGHJKL A=10 s=11 D=12 F13 G14 H15 J16 K17 L18
ZXCVBNM Z19 X20 C21 V22 B23 N24 M25

Now if we will carry digits to lower case
qwertyuiop q=26 w27 e28 r29 t30 y31 u32 i33 o34 p35
asdfghjkl a=36 s37 d38 f39 g40 h41 j42 k43 l44
zxcvbnm z45 x46 c47 v48 b49 n50 m51

So something in the lower case set, maybe "W", is changed to capital? Like 1=W, 27=W too? I'd love to know...

[xELx]

I'd like to hear from OP what the solution was to this or perhaps the person that solved it.

[arg]

Yeah that was very anticlimactic...

That's understating it. Somebody added 0.35% more to their pile of BTC. Yay.

http://mylittlefacewhen.com/media/f/img/mlfw1498_TwilightSparklerollseyesofdisappointment.gif

[ooxtcoo]

anyway... somebody need to post the solution, then we all can sleep again! 

[wyospl]

Dammit I'm mad lol...