What if you could embed your net worth in a story?
This puzzle composed by Trithemius and published on medium [1].
To understand the ground of this puzzle - better read the article composed by the author (the copy available here on github in form of .mhtml document).
In short: the author stated that he saved 0.03 BTC (~2100 $) on the wallet composed of some specific BIP39 seed words - and the word with the correct order is somehow encoded into the article.
Backup seed phrases are mnemonic devices used to backup and restore access
to wallets. BIP-39 seed phrases were implemented to create an english language
backup to be kept entirely offline. These are used by the majority of trusted
wallet providers to backup and restore access to accounts. Instead of needing
addresses together with private keys, only the seed phrases are required to
access an account.
....
A “trithemian seed” is a list of cryptocurrency backup seed phrases stored in an
innocuous body of writing, such as a poem, story, or letter.
....
The beauty of trithemian seeds is that they hide in plain sight. If you’ve
read this far, you’ve read every word required to access a wallet with .03 BTC.
Good luck!
I have created two dummy python scripts: try_BIP39.py and try_old_Electrum.py (they can be found in "python_script" folder). They both works similar - check all BIP 39 seed words (or all old Electrum seed words) used in the article text. The scripts filter the text (text.txt file) leaving only the seed words (preserving their order from the text) and goes over them trying to use the group of 12 words in private key generation: stepping them as: [1,2,3,....,11,12 words], [2,3,4,....,12,13 words], [3,4,5....,13,14 words], .... In other words, it linearly takes 12 seed words from the text shifting the beginning of the group over the text till it reach the end of the text.
The scripts works with the python modules bip32utils, os and bip39 (they should be installed for the script to be used), codecs, hashlib, ecdsa, base58. It uses few files: english.txt - the list of all BIP 39 seed words, old_mnemonic.py - old Electrum seed words list and text.txt (the text of article) but you could replace its content with some other text.
Scripts generate the private key, public key and P2PKH address (compressed\uncompressed) and compare it with the reward address.
I have run this script without the success, and so i guess the real seed should be found in some else way. BUT, script i wrote could be useful (may be with a slight tuning) - i am open for your ideas.
Thank you for spending time on my notes, i hope it was not totally useless and you've found something interesting.
Any ideas\questions or propositions you may send to [email protected] - also look at my twitter @MiningPredict.
[1] Trithemius puzzle description - https://medium.com/coinmonks/securing-bitcoin-seed-phrases-in-stories-d8eb43a02254
[@] The prize stated to be here - https://www.blockchain.com/explorer/addresses/btc/1K4ezpLybootYF23TM4a8Y4NyP7auysnRo
[*] MiningPredict (my twitter page) - https://twitter.com/miningpredict
I am poor Ukrainian student that will really appreciate any donations. I have no home (flat\appartment), live in the dorm (refugee shelter).
P.S. Successfully evacuated from occupied regions of Ukraine.
BTC: 1QKjnfVsTT1KXzHgAFUbTy3QbJ2Hgy96WU
LTC: LNQopZ7ozXPQtWpCPrS4mGGYRaE8iaj3BE
DOGE: DQvfzvVyb4tnBpkd3DRUfbwJjgPSjadDTb
BSV: 1E56gGQ1rYG4kkRo5qPLMK7PHcpVYj15Pv
AR: 0UM6uoLrrnxXuYpHMBDAv-6txNTMdaEkR2m_bP_1HyE
(have never used Arweave wallet)