Someone’s just solved a three-year-old £40,000 Bitcoin puzzle

Vaughn Highfield February 2, 2018

Someone has just become very rich after playing a wonderful game of Where’s Wally (or Where’s Waldo) with a piece of artwork hiding 4.87 Bitcoin.

Someone's just solved a three-year-old £40,000 Bitcoin puzzle

The painting was first put on Twitter in April 2015 and the winner was found yesterday when the money was quietly removed from the hidden Bitcoin wallet.

The puzzle didn’t actually contain 4.87 physical bitcoins but instead hid a hash number to an associated wallet. At the time of the artwork being created, a single bitcoin cost $240.57, making 4.87 bitcoin equated to around $1,170 – or £780. In 2015, that’s still a very generous prize pot for a puzzle painting. Now though, that same 4.87 bitcoin is worth a staggering $50,000, or £35,170.

If the price of Bitcoin, and associated cryptocurrencies, hadn’t begun to tank of late, the winner could have actually run away with close to $87,000 (£61,200). In fact, they’d have only needed to solve it a month or two earlier to have secured nearly twice as much as they ended up with.

It’s also worth noting that because the Bitcoin wallet and puzzle were created before Bitcoin forked off into Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash, the winner also snagged 4.87 bitcoin cash alongside their bitcoin. While Bitcoin Cash isn’t worth as much as Bitcoin, it still added an extra £4,000 to their winnings, securing them nearly £40,000 for solving a picture puzzle posted on Twitter three years ago.

If you’re sat there right now, damning the world to hell for missing your chance at bagging a lump of free cash because you’re on fire when it comes to Magic Eye puzzles, don’t worry, you can still bag some free moolah.

A new project has emerged with a prize pool of 15 ether, equating to around £9,000.

So, get out there and get solving you cryptofiends.