Phemex "Puzzle"

An attempt to solve the phemex puzzle for a prize of 2.1 BTC

• Summary
• Official articles

Summary

• Address is 1h8BNZkhsPiu6EKazP19WkGxDw3jHf9aT
• The compressed public key is 02b4a72e4aaa69ba04b80c6891df01f50d191a65eccc61e4e9862d1e421ce815b3
• 21 digit prime is 957496696762772407663
• Some words from the image need to be converted into a 27-digit decimal number
• Puzzle is solvable without hints
• Capitalization of words in puzzle matters
• 27-digit number is not necessarily a prime
• 27-digit number doesn't involve consecutive digits of e

Official articles

• Puzzle announcement article - January 16, 2020

  • 2.1 BTC are hidden in this picture, can you find the solution?
  • Once a participant has found the correct private key in the image, they will be able to transfer 1.1 BTC to the public key address of their own wallet. A further 1 BTC will be deposited to their Phemex account once they prove they control the private key.

• A letter from Max (27 digit clue) - January 23, 2020

  • The first 21-digit prime found in consecutive digits of e is: 957496696762772407663
  • The private key you derive from Satoshi’s portrait is a big integer, not Wallet Import Format (WIF)
  • The filename of the picture is irrelevant 😒
  • The next step involves converting some words from the portrait, without I/O, into a 27-digit number
  • Go back to step 4) again if you can’t figure it out

• The Last Hint of Phemex 2.1BTC Puzzle - February 21, 2020

  • After meeting the Phemex team, the Goddess Pheme repeated the words “little is big”, twice within three days.

• The "solution" - March 21, 2020

  • The first 21-digit prime found in consecutive digits of e is: 957496696762772407663
  • 27-digit number: 237871847045914904726285415 (first hint came out on Jan. 23, two times within three days)
    • b58decode('SatoshiNakamoto') - Convert the bytes to integer using little endian, which is bigger than that of big endian
    • Charset (BTC): '123456789ABCDEFGHJKLMNPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijkmnopqrstuvwxyz'
    • I do find some people try to convert ‘SatoshiNakamoto’ in telegram chat, so don’t blame me that they are not ‘some words from the portrait’
  • Last number: 554405551875
    • b58decode(‘Phemex’)- Convert the bytes to integer using little endian, which is also bigger than that of big endian
    • Charset (XRP): 'rpshnaf39wBUDNEGHJKLM4PQRST7VWXYZ2bcdeCg65jkm8oFqi1tuvAxyz'