The Legend of Satoshi Nakamato, FINAL STEP PUBLISHED.... 4.87 BTC GRAND PRIZE!

[dalek]

That's what makes this much harder, we are not looking for a string, we are looking for a (random) number.

Given the length and complexity of the previous puzzle, do you think this one would be so simple?

You're probably not looking for a private key. You're probably looking for the IP of a minecraft server - or ANYTHING else...

the puzzle started with other clues and ended with this last clue, as coin_artist has stated the painting contains the key, not the next step to the key. read this thread from the beginning to see this puzzle has already dragged on for 6 months.

[mooglez]

I think I have around half of the flames decoded now, at least its giving me a bitcoin related phrase.
If I am on the correct trail, it is using bacon encoding for the flames

ps, does anyone love coinhub?

[Netpyder]

the more complex you think it is, the deeper you drown.

[Elwar]

I didn't really have time to do much with this but from a quick count, there are 24 flames on each side, 2 layers each...that's 192
There are 9 rows of 7 squares inside. That's 63.

192+63 is 255 (256 bits in a private key).

The flames can easily be 1s and 0s based on height. Some are obscured so you will need to brute force those. The pattern of counting would start in the top right going counter clockwise according to the drawing in the corner. The inner square would start in the bottom right going clockwise according to the drawing in the top right corner.

Not sure of what the binary pattern for the checkerboard would be. Maybe they are 1 or 0 based on the colors unless the square contains a leaf.

[Darkblock]

That's what makes this much harder, we are not looking for a string, we are looking for a (random) number.

Given the length and complexity of the previous puzzle, do you think this one would be so simple?

You're probably not looking for a private key. You're probably looking for the IP of a minecraft server - or ANYTHING else...

I agree. i think this one is harder or at least as hard as the last puzzle. I am still trying to get the connections as i think all elements of the picture have their meaning and are parts of the final-solution. We 'll see how long it takes to get solved..

[Netpyder]

damn i have been looking into that for a while now. all i can understand is 

i believe the word PUZZLE was not put for nothing.

[Darkblock]

damn i have been looking into that for a while now. all i can understand is 

i believe the word PUZZLE was not put for nothing.

same here.  well there are a couple of hints out. just have a look at the tweets to @coin_artist and her retweets. i have some ideas, but am still figuring out how to link all the infos i ve gained together.

[mooglez]

I think I have either gone down the wrong path, or the path drastically changes from here, and I'm not sure how to continue.

here is what I did with the flames:

http://riddlehelper.blogspot.fi/2011/04/baconian-cipher.html
second version, that uses a unique combination for each letter

Code:

                    top top                                               topbottom                                                right right                                right left
yryyr rryrr ryyyr ryr|gg gbgbg bggbg bbgbb g|bggg bbgbg gxxbg bgbbb bgggg bbbgb b|yyyr yryry yxxry rryrr ryyry rryyy y|yrrr yryyy yrr|bg gbgbb bbbbg| gbbbb bgbbg gbggg gbgbb gbgg|y yyyry rrryrrryyyrrrryyyy 
babba aabaa abbba aba|bb babab abbab aabaa b|abbb aabab baaab abaaa abbbb aaaba a|bbba babab baaab aabaa abbab aabbb b|baaa babbb baa|ab babaa aaaab| baaaa abaab babbb babaa babb
w       e     o    l	  v	  n	e   | x	   f	  r     i      p   c	 |o     v	r   e	   n	h     |	y     x	    r|	   u	b   |	q     j	    x	  u	     					

example: we love coinhub xfr very xpr

[josef2000]

I dont get it, someone won or time expired to solve?

Time cant be expired because the private key is hidden on the masterpiece, which will not disappear. I like the art! But I am not a detective though
Good luck guys!

[Sakarias-Corporation]

how do we know that there even is a key in the picture ? (now i haven't looked more then 10 seconds at it) but a great marketing tactic ?
yeah sure there's a Adress with coins, maybe her/him will just claim it her/him(Self) ?

[dalek]

how do we know that there even is a key in the picture ? (now i haven't looked more then 10 seconds at it) but a great marketing tactic ?
yeah sure there's a Adress with coins, maybe her/him will just claim it her/him(Self) ?

this isn't her first contest. and her real name has been mentioned in the press relating to this contest, so it would be a lot of negative press if this one wasn't legit.

[AgentofCoin]

So, after many hours of attempting to figure out this puzzle,
I was able to find this within the picture, which seems to be the next step.
This QR code was created from the painting, importing directly into the QR software.

It is not a private key or address, but a message for the players of this game.  



EDIT: corrected spelling errors

[itod]

So, after many hours of attempting to figure out this puzzle,
I was able to find this within the picture, which seems to be the next step.
This QR code was created from the painting, importing directly into the QR software.

It is not a private key or address, but a message for the players of this game.  



EDIT: corrected spelling errors

You've spent a whole few hours on the puzzle, give up, and decided to pull up a joke? Some persistence ...

[AgentofCoin]

So, after many hours of attempting to figure out this puzzle,
I was able to find this within the picture, which seems to be the next step.
This QR code was created from the painting, importing directly into the QR software.

It is not a private key or address, but a message for the players of this game.  



EDIT: corrected spelling errors

You've spent a whole few hours on the puzzle, give up, and decided to pull up a joke? Some persistence ...

I never said I give up on this puzzle.
Just taking a coffee break and decided to post the QR for levity.

[ajunge]

Did anybody notice that the address: 1FLAMEN6rq2BqMnkUmsJBqCGWdwgVKcegd has almost all "LEAT" assets?

https://counterpartychain.io/address/1FLAMEN6rq2BqMnkUmsJBqCGWdwgVKcegd

The LEAT asset was issued by: 15gD7jaeRUVJqdc3UCHJThKgVPZa4cGr4f
which seems to love to issue assest.

Do you think that is relevant?

[itod]

Did anybody notice that the address: 1FLAMEN6rq2BqMnkUmsJBqCGWdwgVKcegd has almost all "LEAT" assets?

https://counterpartychain.io/address/1FLAMEN6rq2BqMnkUmsJBqCGWdwgVKcegd

The LEAT asset was issued by: 15gD7jaeRUVJqdc3UCHJThKgVPZa4cGr4f
which seems to love to issue assest.

Do you think that is relevant?

I have no idea what assets are, let alone "LEAT" asset. Must be one of those Counterparty nonsenses. OP made clear that she is pulling this step to the public, out of the Counterparty system so everyone can play it, so very likely those "assets" have nothing to do with the solution.

[mooglez]

I just got a QR code to recognize from the pigeon part of the picture.
I can get it to recognize a QR code multiple times but the identified data is different each time.

Could be that there is something there, but its not fully cleaned out yet, or its just a fluke.

here's what I did:

Code:

import sys, re, binascii, string, Image

img = Image.open('OSpEZtA.jpg')

width, _ = img.size
for i, px in enumerate(img.getdata()):
    if px[0] % 2 != 0:
        y = i / width
        x = i % width
        img.putpixel((x, y), (0, 0, 0, 0))
    if px[1] % 2 != 0:
        y = i / width
        x = i % width
        img.putpixel((x, y), (0, 0, 0, 0))
    if px[2] % 2 != 0:
        y = i / width
        x = i % width
        img.putpixel((x, y), (0, 0, 0, 0))

img.save('pic.png')

I then opened the picture in Irfan view, decreased the color depth to 2, and tried my phones QRDroid on the different parts of the picture

the first time the value was: : 18795394
the second time the value was: 15034831
third time: 18270434

the image is here: https://i.imgur.com/eGli3ta.png

[dalek]

So if it is the case that a private key was created from the organization of these five elements in the game of life, the process would have to be reverse engineered. How? who the fuck knows, maybe the flames offer some direction on this.

The private key corresponds to a vanity address, so the data has to be derived from the private key.

[itod]

So let’s recap here. We have five of the six elements in the picture represented also in Conway’s Game of Life, which was alluded to before. Now this could be due to coincidence, perhaps I am really stretching here.

But what if our queen bee coin artist created a simulation in the Game of Life based upon the arrangement of these five elements. What if she somehow created a private key from that physical arrangement. Is that even possible? this guy probably knows: http://robmyers.org/

As have been said before private key in this specific case is a random number (due to the vanity address) over which she had no control, so private key could not be derived from anything including physical arrangement of the objects, only the other way around, objects could be arranged according to the private key.

Edit:
Just saw now dalek beat me to the explanation

[timeflux]

Here's my idea, though i'm not patient enough to run all the variations

There flames are actually coded in 16 combinations

Yellow
Red
Purple (could be blue my screen is weird)
Green

Tall
Short
Line inside
Fill Inside

so one flame for example = YPLS  Yellow/Purple Line Short,
thus here all all the combinations

YPLS
YPFS
YPLT
YPFT

YGFS
YGLT
YGLS
YGFT

RPLT
RPFT
RPFS
RPLS

RGFT
RGFS * appears once only hmm
RGLT
RGLS

so each set of parameters could be a baconion cypher, or the flames themselves could be individual letters or numbers, Ucase lcase etc.

On another note, if i zoom in in photoshop on the strange white uneven border, and adjust my levels high, i see some patterns in the noise of the white border, could be just a jpeg artifiact, but figured i'd show you. Here's just  a small cropping from the upperleft corner of the image

http://imgur.com/WTTieOB

3rd idea, if we want to get really crazy, is that she actually wrote all the characters on the painting. I see FO on the dove, an L and d on the Phoenix, a large black C in the darkest black square and possibly a 3 on the bottom of the queen inside the red triangle.....