Quote from: AlanJohnson on September 28, 2024, 08:01:15 AM

Quote from: Anonymous User on September 28, 2024, 06:44:38 AM

I agree with Akito that the creator of this puzzle moved out puzzles 120, 125, and 130. I have been researching this topic for a long time, and based on my analysis, just after puzzle 120 was solved on 2023-02-27, the creator increased the prize money to a total of 1000 BTC on 2023-04-16. This seemed to be a public stunt by the creator to draw more attention to the puzzle. Then, on 2023-07-09, puzzle 125 was removed again, likely as another public stunt to generate further discussion and speculation that someone had gained the knowledge to crack ECDSA within a 3-4 month period. After that, when puzzle 66 was solved and subsequently stolen by another pseudo person (I’m unsure if this was also a public stunt), the creator quickly moved btc of puzzle 130, likely to attract even more attention.

I don’t mean to offend anyone—this is just my analysis. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, and this is simply mine. I have no intention of offending anyone.

This could be true but from the other hand why he would do that ? You said his goal is to draw more attention. I don't think so. This whole puzzle thing is very niche topic, normal people don't care whatever he will do here... and moving puzzles like 120 125 130 and 66 makes the whole thing even more unaccessible to average person due to obvious hardware limitations.

He stated clearly what this "puzzle" really is: it's meant to measure what can be cracked at current time, He doesn't care who takes the bitcoins or how it was done or if someone stole the transaction. All he cares about is current cracking capabilities. As if someone is monitoring if increasing bitcoin security is necessary.

I think the "creator" is not a random private person. It represents someone who have important goal in knowledge how safe bitcoin is currently. This is someone who created BTC, big exchange or something like this.

How many people you know that instead of cashing it all or at least holding would make a puzzle and play such game ? And if someone has thousands of bitcoins and this is just a part of them why would he even bother to make such puzzle ? I tell you it's not a single private person and he is not moving the puzzles himself.

Yes, I too believe that the creators of this puzzle is someone who created BTC, big exchange or something like this and this is a marketing strategy to promote Bitcoin. Have you noticed that after the prize was increased to 1000 BTC, the number of newcomers on Bitcoin Talk also increased? Yes, this puzzle is meant to measure what can be cracked at the current time and is also a marketing or advertisement strategy. The creators /developers likely knew that after a certain breakpoint or threshold, such as puzzle 66 or puzzle 130, most participants—those without knowledge of ECDSA or secp256k1—who are trying to solve the puzzles using random numbers or common libraries like ECDSA, would eventually fail after spending thousands of hours.

As a result, they would come to trust the security of Bitcoin. After gaining that trust, they might start investing in Bitcoin, which would increase the supply chain and the price of Bitcoin. Now, this puzzle is no longer for common participants; it’s for people who have access to thousands of GPUs and can invest the time, money, and energy required to solve it. In the end, it's the creators/developers who are profiting, while we are merely puppets wasting our time and resources. Yes, the truth is hard to hear because it’s bitter: despite the effort and money spent by solvers, the real beneficiaries are those behind the puzzle.