ARG Puzzle with 3.5 BTC Private Key Prize, Game Over

[Coinkle]

Atomic # of Pb(lead0 is 82

I will mess around with the full image from i.imgur later tonight with the Adobe Suite.
Thanks

[rock_collector]

I don't care about winning btc. I just love puzzles, and I'm learning so much from this one.

Not much time today but looked a little into steganography, so interesting. (again, "They cannot attack what they do not see" = steganography) [also, remember, Coinkie said in an earlier post that YTcoin_artist mentioned via Twitter DM that she found steganography interesting because of the volume of noise]

I've been wondering about the tiles in between Amir and Cody. They have shadings that look like blurred depictions or reflections of something. If you stand back from the painting and squint, you will notice the darker shadings around the figures. At first I thought the shading was artistic rendering of their shadows. Now I'm wondering if there is another image that can be steganographically revealed somehow (not necessarily by code but by vision or a visual trick).

I like this (from http://www.szmz.hu/variations_on_steganography/stego_description.html ):

During my research of visual messages that are imperceptible at first sight, I started to study images depicting the characteristics of human vision, and especially the image types associated with Gyula Julesz’s name: block diagrams and autostereograms. Whereas the former are only recognizable from a distance with squinting eyes, through which the amount of information getting to our eyes is limited, the latter will reveal the hidden spatial order within the random dots when viewed from up close, with relaxed eye muscles: a relief-like stereoscopic view. In the Steganogram: Stereogram series I applied these two methods on a single pictorial surface. These images of double meaning and double view have to be observed from at least two aspects, with two modes of eye movement and gesture, so that the intended information becomes perceivable. If you keep the necessary distance and ignore the details, you will be able to recognise half of the image. Then, when you walk quite close and view it cross-eyed, you will see the spaces, the stereoscopic reliefs hiding behind the surface. By reading them together, you can reconstruct the message literarily hidden behind the image. [then she shows 2 pictures]

[S4VV4S]

I don't care about winning btc. I just love puzzles, and I'm learning so much from this one.

Not much time today but looked a little into steganography, so interesting. (again, "They cannot attack what they do not see" = steganography) [also, remember, Coinkie said in an earlier post that YTcoin_artist mentioned via Twitter DM that she found steganography interesting because of the volume of noise]

I've been wondering about the tiles in between Amir and Cody. They have shadings that look like blurred depictions or reflections of something. If you stand back from the painting and squint, you will notice the darker shadings around the figures. At first I thought the shading was artistic rendering of their shadows. Now I'm wondering if there is another image that can be steganographically revealed somehow (not necessarily by code but by vision or a visual trick).

I like this (from http://www.szmz.hu/variations_on_steganography/stego_description.html ):

During my research of visual messages that are imperceptible at first sight, I started to study images depicting the characteristics of human vision, and especially the image types associated with Gyula Julesz’s name: block diagrams and autostereograms. Whereas the former are only recognizable from a distance with squinting eyes, through which the amount of information getting to our eyes is limited, the latter will reveal the hidden spatial order within the random dots when viewed from up close, with relaxed eye muscles: a relief-like stereoscopic view. In the Steganogram: Stereogram series I applied these two methods on a single pictorial surface. These images of double meaning and double view have to be observed from at least two aspects, with two modes of eye movement and gesture, so that the intended information becomes perceivable. If you keep the necessary distance and ignore the details, you will be able to recognise half of the image. Then, when you walk quite close and view it cross-eyed, you will see the spaces, the stereoscopic reliefs hiding behind the surface. By reading them together, you can reconstruct the message literarily hidden behind the image. [then she shows 2 pictures]

Wait, you are talking about 3D here right?

Nevermind....

[S4VV4S]

Guys and girls, switch to ASCII.

Don't forget to post your findings

EDIT: Yeah, I didn't find asnything yet

EDIT 2: Yeah, maybe not......

[Kangaderoo]

checked the blockchain for transactions and used addresses.

1BhnKiVaDokB9X5GKixZnSGxJXobbQtfQh --> depleted and not used in combination with 1HXUobwcB19cGDrghuh42HDdJdJvrJUEra
but this address got a payment from 1rEDGrNbuqqtbJU12XiU4hvmfM4XaQVcD and forwarded to 1PBsAHYQoczQh6mufENsR4tCkKToQKjMzz

1sosB9wN5ij84GKfo6Xxx8FWyh5fPXVXu  --> depleted
1rEDGrNbuqqtbJU12XiU4hvmfM4XaQVcD --> depleted

1PBsAHYQoczQh6mufENsR4tCkKToQKjMzz --> still hold some value, not enough for binary at the moment.

1BoRHtJva2L9YyqB1aS1zqgFUjjftNuZtJ --> the main(?) bank wallet?

I guess the depleted wallets mean that the red/green and Morse code should be considered completely solved?

We might still get some binary info.... :-)

I just wonder if the 1BhnK address is also a vanity address and what the name should stand for.
It may have been for a hint that became obsolete...

[S4VV4S]

checked the blockchain for transactions and used addresses.

1BhnKiVaDokB9X5GKixZnSGxJXobbQtfQh --> depleted and not used in combination with 1HXUobwcB19cGDrghuh42HDdJdJvrJUEra
but this address got a payment from 1rEDGrNbuqqtbJU12XiU4hvmfM4XaQVcD and forwarded to 1PBsAHYQoczQh6mufENsR4tCkKToQKjMzz

1sosB9wN5ij84GKfo6Xxx8FWyh5fPXVXu  --> depleted
1rEDGrNbuqqtbJU12XiU4hvmfM4XaQVcD --> depleted

1PBsAHYQoczQh6mufENsR4tCkKToQKjMzz --> still hold some value, not enough for binary at the moment.

1BoRHtJva2L9YyqB1aS1zqgFUjjftNuZtJ --> the main(?) bank wallet?

I guess the depleted wallets mean that the red/green and Morse code should be considered completely solved?

We might still get some binary info.... :-)

I just wonder if the 1BhnK address is also a vanity address and what the name should stand for.
It may have been for a hint that became obsolete...

Sorry, what 1BhnKiVaDokB9X5GKixZnSGxJXobbQtfQh address would that be?
I don't see it in the TX list.....

Nevermind.

Found it.

I guess I need some sleep 

[rock_collector]

Another mental discharge:

A representation of Bohr's Atom

http://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niels_Bohr


His work involves color spectrums:

(that thing about the eyes not seeing could be related to InfraRed or UltraViolet, invisible spectrums)


And we could easily fall into periodic tables:
Pb = Lead http://www.americanelements.com/pb.html



Damn... my head hurts.

My head hurts, too.

Here's an art appreciation moment:

Glad you posted the color spectrum pic. I've been thinking about that. The logo for DarkMarket, Amir Taaki's project, is an inverted triangle with a beam of light entering and a rainbow exiting:  http://www.wired.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/darkmarket-feat1.jpg   (arghh, how do I post images here?) Much like how the eye/brain process light/color. It's a great logo for what DarkMarket/DarkWallet does, metaphorically.

[Here's a link to an article about DarkMarket:  http://www.wired.com/2014/04/darkmarket/  "Inside the ‘DarkMarket’ Prototype, a Silk Road the FBI Can Never Seize"]  

In coin_artist's painting, the light beam/our vision figuratively enters the inverted triangle and renders a rainbow of colors on the grid. It's the same metaphor - it's a prism.

Now, what about all those other letters and numbers on the grid....? The ones that weren't part of the bitcoin loot address. And the blue dot?

[S4VV4S]

Another mental discharge:

A representation of Bohr's Atom

http://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niels_Bohr


His work involves color spectrums:

(that thing about the eyes not seeing could be related to InfraRed or UltraViolet, invisible spectrums)


And we could easily fall into periodic tables:
Pb = Lead http://www.americanelements.com/pb.html



Damn... my head hurts.

My head hurts, too.

Here's an art appreciation moment:

Glad you posted the color spectrum pic. I've been thinking about that. The logo for DarkMarket, Amir Taaki's project, is an inverted triangle with a beam of light entering and a rainbow exiting:  http://www.wired.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/darkmarket-feat1.jpg   (arghh, how do I post images here?) Much like how the eye/brain process light/color. It's a great logo for what DarkMarket/DarkWallet does, metaphorically.

[Here's a link to an article about DarkMarket:  http://www.wired.com/2014/04/darkmarket/  "Inside the ‘DarkMarket’ Prototype, a Silk Road the FBI Can Never Seize"]  

In coin_artist's painting, the light beam/our vision figuratively enters the inverted triangle and renders a rainbow of colors on the grid. It's the same metaphor - it's a prism.

Now, what about all those other letters and numbers on the grid....? The ones that weren't part of the bitcoin loot address. And the blue dot?

That is something I will think about tomorrow (actually in a couple of hours) coz my head hurts too and i need some sleep 

Sp gdnight to you all and I hope to see more results when I get back 

[xELx]

Yes it's about beer o'clock for myself. Spent the better part of today looking at this. Brain = fried.

[Prospero]

So are we assuming that the "donot" is not a clarification to us using "cannot" earlier but rather an instruction to not use http? Is this implying that we shouldn't be looking for a link or should we try using https?

more likely an .onion address

onion addresses are 16 character strings, consisting of the characters a-z (case insensitive) and 2-7. if we can find a candidate string, just append .onion and view it through tor.

[elh40257]

play play play team win limit twenty somehow tremble dinner lazy house bang hey motion won except await pull mystery wrinkle

P.S.: very amusin game.

[mirth23]

Riffing off of "what you can not see", these characters are not in the puzzle: 0KQVWZlpq ... no obvious words, and no obvious way to order them for anything. A ROT13 shift doesn't get me anywhere useful. Maybe other Caesar shifts will go someplace?

I think there's something hidden in the image, but whacking at it with various GIMP filters hasn't told me what yet. There is definitely a lot of noise in the black border around the edges of the image (and there's a lot of noise in the image in general). I see some odd shapes and triangles but can't make anything out that's useful. I was hoping for a somewhat blatant QR code but nothing's popped out yet. I've gotten a graphic designer who's a Photoshop jock excited to look at this so maybe she'll have some ideas from a more artistic point of view.

[kendog77]

It would be pretty funny and sadistic of the OP if the solution and private key is not actually hidden in the image at the beginning of this thread.

You all could be wasting hours looking for a needle in the wrong haystack.  

[mirth23]

Here's a chat with OP from a couple weeks ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0N4hq4fVAnw

From 37:10 - 39:30 she talks a bit about the sorts of things that presumably inspired her to make this puzzle.

Around 56:00 she talks about the series of bitcoin portratis she's doing, which this is one of.

[e1ghtSpace]

It seems like at the top of the guy on the left's shirt, there is a backwards number 7. What do you guys think?

[micaman]

Here's a chat with OP from a couple weeks ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0N4hq4fVAnw

From 37:10 - 39:30 she talks a bit about the sorts of things that presumably inspired her to make this puzzle.

Around 56:00 she talks about the series of bitcoin portratis she's doing, which this is one of.

She's awesome, we're f***ed... 

[rgm108]

lol
I actually got a priv key with a working address:
5KYZdUEo39z3FPrtuX2QbbwGnNP5zTd7yyr2SC1j299sBCnWjs
1HZwkjkeaoZfTSaJxDw6aKkxp45agDiEzN

Empty though but this came out of shuffling the letters & numbers which are easy to see.

[Kprawn]

Wonder what the All seeing eye has to do with this?   {It's the same eye on a dollar Bill? on top of the pyramid}

Any idea who the 2 people are? Because they linked with the eye. Can it be a clue?

We have 3 things here:

Art
Numbers
Colors

Will a Bitcoin adress not be scrammbled with a pass phrase, would the Art not represent the pass phrase to unlock the bitcoin adress and pass key?

Triangle = Love triangle or the evil love for money, where money is the 3rd entity in the triangle.

What does a triangle represent in mathematical terms?

Hopefully my suggestions, lead to a answer and a donation from the person solving this. 

[e1ghtSpace]

Any idea who the 2 people are? Because they linked with the eye. Can it be a clue?

They are the guys who made the dark wallet.
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7483468#msg7483468

Hopefully my suggestions, lead to a answer and a donation from the person solving this.  

Let's hope so. Although I don't think you have done very much. (No offence)

Would the Art not represent the pass phrase to unlock the bitcoin ad[d]ress and pass key?

We have already been talking about this from quite a few pages back.

Will a Bitcoin ad[d]ress not be scrammbled with a pass phrase

We have already found the target Bitcoin Address.

[elh40257]

If i've understood right a key is written with brown characters color.