IAMABananaAMAA

Who this is

The account that started r/bitcoinpuzzles and posted its first puzzle. It's an author first, and this page is the solver side of the same record.

The solve is Wickex's puzzle, posted at 02:22 UTC on December 23, 2013, right after Wickex had taken IAMABananaAMAA's GIF. Hex that spells a YouTube link, Morse in the video, a short link in capitals, a second video with a string hidden in the sound, and that string as a brainwallet passphrase. It lasted about 45 minutes.

The refund

Here is the bit that makes this page worth having. IAMABananaAMAA swept the prize and sent it straight back, in the same block, so somebody else could still play. Somebody did: the address was emptied again nineteen minutes later, and the thread never says who. Then the account posted the four steps under the puzzle for everyone who was still stuck. Solving a puzzle and handing the money back is not something you see often. Doing it to the person who solved yours an hour earlier is just good manners.

What the record says

One fact, the comment with the method and the refund. The claim, the refund and the second claim are transactions on the puzzle's record. Nothing links the second sweep to a name, so the record doesn't guess one.

The record

solver: party("IAMABananaAMAA", {
  key: "iamabananaamaa",
  kind: PartyKind.Person,
  about: "Started r/bitcoinpuzzles, solved the second puzzle posted there the same night and sent the prize back.",
  profiles: [profile("reddit", "https://www.reddit.com/user/IAMABananaAMAA/")],
  facts: [
    fact("Wrote that the prize was taken and refunded, then listed the four steps: hex, Morse, a short link and a second video.", METHOD, { date: "2013-12-23" }),
  ],
}),