ARG Puzzle with 3.5 BTC Private Key Prize, Game Over

[arg]

L4rK1yDtCWekvXuE6oXD9jCYfFNV2cWRpVuPLBcCU2z8TrisoyY1

Compressed WIP private key for SHA256('')?

if they are not valid addresses then that is a fatal flaw in the blockchain because it's showing as a valid address and you could send coins there

1GatekeeperGatekeeperGatek1zEZ49j

That's 100% valid address meat, but has no private key. You can send coins there too

[Gatekeeper]

that imports as
https://blockchain.info/address/1MtR9nBGfWBLY23q4dRGRjjzBBiEdxRmC3

if they are not valid addresses then that is a fatal flaw in the blockchain because it's showing as a valid address and you could send coins there

If you edit the address it comes back as checksum not valid, so it clearly does check the addresses and says that this one is valid. If it's not then blockchain is fucked

eg:
https://blockchain.info/address/1MtR9nBGfWBLY23q4dRGRjjzBBiEdxRmC2 is not valid (change 3 to 2 at end)

This is not true, there are extremely large number of BTC address that no private key hashes to. If private key (WIF) checksum is wrong, no decent wallet should import it. For instance look at this BTC address:
https://blockchain.info/address/1BitcoinEaterAddressDontSendf59kuE
You can send money to it, but you can never retrieve coins from it. There are thousands of transactions like that in the blockchain.

that's still a valid address though isnt it? it's just that no one knows the priv key. That's different, here blockchain is importing a "private key" and giving you what it says is a valid address, if you edit the address it says checksum isn't valid, so that website clearly thinks that an address is valid that the other guys are saying is not, which seems to be a big flaw in blockchain.info.  
It's saying https://blockchain.info/address/1MtR9nBGfWBLY23q4dRGRjjzBBiEdxRmC3 is a valid address, and the guys here are saying it isn't

[arg]

that's still a valid address though isnt it?

Yep.

 That's different, here blockchain is importing a "private key" and giving you what it says is a valid address

Yep.

which seems to be a big flaw in blockchain.info. 

Yep.

Code:

0ee3318601b0ed03b4e12f4af8ab756bd0347b6b2bef4fbd1ff2fdd1ce6e93a5

[ooxtcoo]

L4rK1yDtCWekvXuE6oXD9jCYfFNV2cWRpVuPLBcCU2z8TrisoyY1

Compressed WIP private key for SHA256('')?

if they are not valid addresses then that is a fatal flaw in the blockchain because it's showing as a valid address and you could send coins there

1GatekeeperGatekeeperGatek1zEZ49j

That's 100% valid address meat, but has no private key. You can send coins there too

yes, its compressed: 5KZnsvrXDcP7JFD7GCuZvifrbcBtK4kAe8nHx6ibktgvPJxs4Lp

but if you import it, then you see transactions made!

[arg]

yes, its compressed: 5KZnsvrXDcP7JFD7GCuZvifrbcBtK4kAe8nHx6ibktgvPJxs4Lp

but if you import it, then you see transactions made!

Yeah, people turn an empty string into a brain wallet, then send money to it. Not related to the ARG.

[itod]

that's still a valid address though isnt it? it's just that no one knows the priv key. That's different, here blockchain is importing a "private key" and giving you what it says is a valid address, if you edit the address it says checksum isn't valid, so that website clearly thinks that an address is valid that the other guys are saying is not, which seems to be a big flaw in blockchain.info.  
It's saying https://blockchain.info/address/1MtR9nBGfWBLY23q4dRGRjjzBBiEdxRmC3 is a valid address, and the guys here are saying it isn't

WIF private key is either valid or not. You can check yourself here, down on the page you have 'WIF checksum checking':
http://gobittest.appspot.com/PrivateKey

5KZnsvrXDcP7JFD7GCuZvifrbcBtK4kAe8nHx6ibktgvPJxs4Lp should have checksum 08FA7CC9 and it has 1E157B43. Key invalid, end of story. Any wallet that imports it has a bug.

[Gatekeeper]

that's still a valid address though isnt it? it's just that no one knows the priv key. That's different, here blockchain is importing a "private key" and giving you what it says is a valid address, if you edit the address it says checksum isn't valid, so that website clearly thinks that an address is valid that the other guys are saying is not, which seems to be a big flaw in blockchain.info.  
It's saying https://blockchain.info/address/1MtR9nBGfWBLY23q4dRGRjjzBBiEdxRmC3 is a valid address, and the guys here are saying it isn't

WIF private key is either valid or not. You can check yourself here, down on the page you have 'WIF checksum checking':
http://gobittest.appspot.com/PrivateKey

5KZnsvrXDcP7JFD7GCuZvifrbcBtK4kAe8nHx6ibktgvPJxs4Lp should have checksum 08FA7CC9 and it has 1E157B43. Key invalid, end of story. Any wallet that imports it has a bug.

every different place i check says https://blockchain.info/address/1MtR9nBGfWBLY23q4dRGRjjzBBiEdxRmC3 is a valid bitcoin address and i've tried a few different places. End of the day i don't really care, it's an empty address, but everywhere i check says it's valid.

[alphabetacanary]

Focus people!

5KZnsvrXDcP7JFD7GCuZvifrbcBtK4kAe8nHx6ibktgvPJxs4Lp is the string we get from shifting the z69... string by 6EQUJ5 within the base62 alphabet provided by OP
But it is not a valid bitcoin private key because the checksum bytes don't match.  Any program that imports it is probably ignoring the checksum and using the 32 bytes after the 0x80 (which is incorrect BTW).

But using the 32 bytes after the first 0x80 (looking at the string in hex) as a private 'raw' key does not yield the correct public address.

So where do we go from here?

1. Maybe someone can find another shift that produces something starting with L for a compressed format?
2. Are there multiple rounds of shifts possibly?
3. Try extra characters at the end of 6EQUJ5?

I believe we just need to find a transformation within the base62 space that yields a valid base 58 address that starts with 5 (uncompressed) or L/K (compressed).

[arg]

every different place i check says https://blockchain.info/address/1MtR9nBGfWBLY23q4dRGRjjzBBiEdxRmC3 is a valid bitcoin address and i've tried a few different places. End of the day i don't really care, it's an empty address, but everywhere i check says it's valid.

The ADDRESS is valid but no wallet should have imported the PRIVATE KEY because it is invalid.

[shorena]

-snip-
every different place i check says https://blockchain.info/address/1MtR9nBGfWBLY23q4dRGRjjzBBiEdxRmC3 is a valid bitcoin address and i've tried a few different places.

Lets just cut this and say: How cares? We need a valid (!) private key (!) that allows you to spend the coin that have been send to 1HXUobwcB19cGDrghuh42HDdJdJvrJUEra

Everything else is irrelevant. Well unless there is another step ahead of us. But this would most likely not go over bitcoin addresses.

[jc01480]

I suspect you're looking for a code that, when posted, will confirm to OP you've solved the puzzle.  OP will then communicate with that person directly to prevent swiping of the private key.  Keep it simple.

[Gatekeeper]

from OP

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

so change lowercase to uppercase?
only palindrome i can think of is WOW , is there any others?

[jc01480]

Change lowercase to uppercase.

[Timmmaahh]

from OP

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

so change lowercase to uppercase?
only palindrome i can think of is WOW , is there any others?

OPs hints are more confusing than helping :'D

[Joe_Bauers]

I suspect you're looking for a code that, when posted, will confirm to OP you've solved the puzzle.  OP will then communicate with that person directly to prevent swiping of the private key.  Keep it simple.

I'm pretty sure that the correct key will be a brain wallet passphrase for the address, but in case it is not :

T69hfDLhA862r1HJR7ZuiekOhuSj1XMMeCgqKZd7pHPHXBSHC7j4

[xELx]

Yea it would be nice to have confirmation as to whether or not we're looking for the final key or a pass-phrase of some sort. Plot twist: we eventually find another bit . ly link.

[Timmmaahh]

Yea it would be nice to have confirmation as to whether or not we're looking for the final key or a pass-phrase of some sort. Plot twist: we eventually find another bit . ly link.

yee no idea if it is a brainwallet phrase or what ever

a key?
a link?
a mail address?

[Krona Rev]

I tried something based on the information before the palindrome hint. It didn't work, but might give one of you a good idea.

The string z69JZqlJn862D1ndx7oLVEMmV0lP1zewEeUCrsI7Roahzpeny7P

as a base62 number (0=0,A=10,a=36) gives the base 10 number

2544602690811658317353678523595957659918682616065482344224953077374885296327773 7222433136147

or in hex

C7DDF8E4AD3B8CE425A8DB02114895F6F8FB6E6E3C49CB4EA505D3A7330B90049DED51B3DE13

This is a 304 bit number, i.e., 38 bytes. The sha256 of these 38 bytes gives a 256 bit number (32 bytes):

E1527C1694D54D96DF96D6B735AC8AB0781CF214DCDF2F6C8F44B7B9EB331999

The sha256 of these 32 bytes gives another 256 bit number (in hex):

9F673A96065872003EC70BF2C43B77DD64F4E63C9321EAA05548070DBB972D9A

This 256 bit number (like most 256 bit numbers) is a private key. The WIF version is this:

5K2VKhkQPvPKX6sKDsMBZSPeN6iBRyfynK2wtV4HoYEzcmiUdQP

The corresponding address is not the one we want:

112nVF5b2NPKbVqDLYQDzcP5hZvFFuXC1t

[Prospero]

from OP

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

so change lowercase to uppercase?
only palindrome i can think of is WOW , is there any others?

0=0 A=10 baby a=36 wow? o

baby hasn't been used and could fit the hint: "once small is now tall"

[Timmmaahh]

from OP

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

so change lowercase to uppercase?
only palindrome i can think of is WOW , is there any others?

0=0 A=10 baby a=36 wow? o

baby hasn't been used and could fit the hint: "once small is now tall"

baya means just little a?