Coin_Pro

Who this is

A footer, mostly. Every Coin_Games page ends with "COIN_PRO / DJ, Producer, Programmer / 2017". The logo spells it CO||N_PRO. The site credits "VALHALLA GAMES UNL||M||TED" above it, and its About text talks about "our experts" and five years of "Crypto/Stego-Puzzles". One person or a crew? The footer reads like one person, so the record says person. Nothing else does.

A puzzle a week

In November 2017 Coin_Pro started Coin_Games, one banknote puzzle a week until the new year. Skulls, lions, Stonehenge, the Venus de Milo. Small prizes that grew every week: 2,020 sats, 3,301, 6,661. All three went in within ten minutes, though, a week or two before weeks 2 and 3 were due.

Then it got bigger on paper. #4 to #6 promised more, with OHM and OACoin on top. None of them came with an address. #7 says "Funding Unsuccessful". Honest, at least.

Coin_Pro and u/3301J

The r/bitcoinpuzzles post that announced the puzzles came from u/3301J. It talks about Coin_Pro in the third person, like a fan. But 3301J also handed out the site's Discord link in the comments, and later offered an indie RPG for sale with the name the site teases, Holy Order. Coincidence? Could be. The record keeps one fact from that post, the line that names the makers, and doesn't merge the accounts.

There's a Reddit account called Coin_Pro too. It posted about NEO in 2021 and nothing about puzzles. Different story.

The record

static readonly author = party("Coin_Pro", {
  key: "coin-pro",
  kind: PartyKind.Person,
  aliases: ["CO||N_PRO"],
  about: "Drew Bitcoin puzzles as banknotes for Coin_Games in late 2017 and promised a bigger prize every week until the new year.",
  addresses: ["1LJquQsbjVomQR8gwv878LY6nV5ajVZxnc"],
  profiles: [profile("website", HOME)],
  facts: [
    fact("Signs the Coin_Games pages COIN_PRO / DJ, Producer, Programmer / 2017.", HOME),
    fact("The home page lists puzzles #4 to #6 with Bitcoin prizes of …", HOME),
    fact("u/3301J announced the first three puzzles on r/bitcoinpuzzles and named Coin_Pro and …", ANNOUNCEMENT, { date: "2017-12-04" }),
  ],
});

The one address is the donation address the home page asks you to fill "for more games". It got 44,467 sats over its life and spent them all. The wallets that funded the three prizes stay out. Very likely Coin_Pro's, sure, but no page prints them.