Last week, a bitcoin picture puzzle appeared online in which players were challenged to uncover the private key to a BTC wallet. The game sparked major interest, for its 310 BTC prize was magnitudes greater than anything previously offered by a game of this nature. But it appears that somebody has now won the jackpot, as the wallet was drained on Oct. 10.
Also read: Bitcoin Puzzle Games Are Growing in Popularity
Crypto Challenge Promises
Greatest Jackpot of Its Kind
“This is a challenge in which 310 BTC is hidden in the picture shown above. Whoever finds the key to the coins may keep the bitcoins,” explained the anonymous creator of the Bitcoin Challenge website and visual puzzle. Puzzle-based bitcoin games have proven popular in recent years, combining elements of cryptography with straightforward sleuthing, capped by a juicy reward for the victor. The prizes for such games has tended to average between 1-5 BTC. The value of this latest jackpot, at some $1.9 million worth of BTC, attracted interest and suspicion in equal measure.
The address in question can be seen to have contained 310 BTC, and the corresponding signature provided to demonstrate ownership checks out when scrutinized using the Electrum bitcoin wallet. The entity behind the Bitcoin Challenge game can therefore be shown to have access to the wallet in question. What cannot be proven, at this juncture, is whether the private key to that wallet was found by a player solving the clues concealed in the picture. The black and white mosaic shows various numbers and letters that in theory ought to correspond to the key for the corresponding wallet. Whatever the
