Bitcoin puzzle hides wallet key in Genesis Block data

An unidentified Bitcoin user embedded a 255-byte message in block 963,629 on Aug. 22, announcing a wallet puzzle whose private-key material was allegedly derived from Satoshi Nakamoto’s Genesis Block.

Galaxy Research identified the transaction on Aug. 23. Independent block data confirms that Foundry USA mined block 963,629 at approximately 19:45 UTC on Aug. 22. The block remains part of Bitcoin’s confirmed transaction history.

The message does not reveal the creator’s identity, derivation formula or complete solution. No verified evidence available at publication time showed that anyone had deciphered the puzzle or moved its advertised reward.

Bitcoin puzzle message describes deliberately weak entropy

The transaction contains a human-readable message placed in an OP_RETURN output. Its author said:

“I created a Bitcoin puzzle using information contained in the Genesis Block created by Satoshi to generate the wallet.”

The creator added that the wallet’s entropy was “extremely low” and claimed no private backup was necessary because “everything I needed was already in the Genesis Block.” These are claims from the unidentified author and do not independently reveal how the wallet was generated.

Entropy refers to the randomness used when creating private keys. A secure wallet draws from a sufficiently large and unpredictable set of possible values. A wallet generated from well-known public data can become vulnerable if an attacker can reproduce the exact selection, ordering and transformation process.

Block 963,629 permanently records the challenge

The transaction was 500 bytes and paid a miner fee of 250 satoshis. Its fee rate was 0.60 satoshis per virtual byte, making the on-chain message inexpensive to publish.

The 255-byte payload represented more than half the transaction’s raw size. Galaxy Research therefore characterized it as an “oversized OP_RETURN.” The description refers to its unusual size compared with ordinary data outputs, not a breach of Bitcoin’s consensus rules.

OP_RETURN allows users to create provably unspendable outputs carrying arbitrary information. In related coverage, crypto.news previously explained how users have embedded permanent messages in blockchain transactions, including tributes, political statements and timestamped records.

Once confirmed, the puzzle text became part of Bitcoin’s transaction history. However, embedding a claim on-chain proves that the message existed by that time. It does not prove that every statement inside it is accurate.

Genesis Block offers several possible inputs

Satoshi mined Bitcoin’s Genesis Block, also called block zero, on Jan. 3, 2009. Its hash is 000000000019d6689c085ae165831e934ff763ae46a2a6c172b3f1b60a8ce26f.

The block also contains a timestamp, nonce, Merkle root, public key and the well-known newspaper headline: “The Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks.” Any of those values could form part of the puzzle’s key-generation process.

Blockstream’s technical reference lists the Genesis Block’s timestamp as 1231006505 and its nonce as 2083236893. The public availability of these values means solvers can reproduce them, but they still need to identify which information the creator selected and how it was processed.

The puzzle should not be confused with the Genesis Block’s original 50 BTC subsidy. Those coins are unspendable because the original Bitcoin implementation did not add that coinbase transaction to the spendable output set.

Solvers still need the missing derivation method

The next verifiable development would be an outgoing transaction signed by the puzzle wallet’s private key. Such a movement could show that someone derived the correct key, although an apparent solution could also come from the original creator.

Galaxy Research had not identified the author or published a verified solution when it disclosed the transaction. The on-chain message also does not establish that the creator recovered forgotten Satoshi code, as the original headline suggested.

Until a valid spend or signed proof appears, the event remains a newly published Bitcoin puzzle built around public Genesis Block data, not a deciphered secret from Satoshi Nakamoto.