On-chain record · high source confidence
Bitcoin Puzzle transaction (2015)
On 15 January 2015 a single transaction, 08389f34c98c606322740c0be6a7125d9860bb8d5cb182c02f98461e5fa6cd15, funded 256 outputs with amounts scaling from 0.001 BTC to 0.256 BTC — one output per puzzle index, where the private key for puzzle N is known to lie inside an N-bit range. Low-numbered tranches fell quickly to brute force; higher ones remain open, and the anonymous creator has since topped up unsolved outputs. The author has described the series as a crude measuring instrument for the community's key-search capability rather than a giveaway.
- First seen
- January 2015
- Connected
- May 2025
- Route display ID
5°-E29E-0280Display identifier only — not proof of ownership.
2 additional population comparisons
Evidence boundary
What is — and is not — established
Addresses were read directly from the funding transaction's outputs on mempool.space and mapped to puzzle number by output value (0.001 BTC x N); puzzle #66 is additionally corroborated by a public puzzle-tracking repository. Solved/unsolved status is time-sensitive: when checked, #71 and #72 had no spends while #66 and #67 were fully swept. Re-check spend status at render time rather than treating these labels as permanent. The puzzle creator is anonymous and their stated motive is self-reported. Fifth-index puzzles have had public keys exposed by small outgoing spends, which changes the attack surface for those specific tranches.
The dossier
Evidence record
Address record
- Role
- puzzle #71 output (0.071 BTC in the original funding tx); unspent when checked
- Script
- P2PKH
- Category
- On-chain lore
- Source confidence
- high
- Catalog reviewed
- 2026-08-06
View all 4 documented addresses
- 01
1PWo3JeB9jrGwfHDNpdGK54CRas7fsVzXU - 02
1JTK7s9YVYywfm5XUH7RNhHJH1LshCaRFR - 03
13zb1hQbWVsc2S7ZTZnP2G4undNNpdh5so - 04
1BY8GQbnueYofwSuFAT3USAhGjPrkxDdW9