Ethereum · Solved · 0.1 ETH swept 2026-08-14
CryptoPuzzlers · Sliding Colors
All 128 color strips form one alternating chain. Each upward strip contributes one hexadecimal digit through a four-nibble XOR; the live private key is intentionally withheld.
Normalize the 128 strips
Convert each 16-cell strip to binary, using colored = 1 and white = 0. Reverse every downward-moving strip so all patterns share one reading direction.
Build one connected chain
Connect identical normalized strips between passes. Within each pass, connect same-colored downward and upward strips. Those two edge rules join all 128 strips into one chain.
Find the unique starting strip
Start at the unmatched downward 5555 strip, which normalizes to aaaa. Follow its same-color downward-to-upward connection.
Extract one hexadecimal digit per upward strip
Split the upward strip into four hexadecimal nibbles and XOR them. For the first link, aaaa (down) leads to d2b5 (up), and d XOR 2 XOR b XOR 5 = 1. Then follow the identical-pattern edge to the next downward strip and repeat for 64 digits.
Verify the recovered key without publishing it
Deriving the uncompressed public key and applying Keccak-256 to bytes 1 onward gives 904eaa6ac9dc58debc75efd33333ba7cd41f45913a00bc78b1a02bc910bac93b. Its final 20 bytes match the published address 0x3333ba7Cd41F45913A00bC78b1A02bc910bac93b. The private key is omitted because even residual funds make it a live secret.
Confirm the on-chain outcome
The address originally received 0.1 ETH. That prize left in an August 14, 2026 transaction; a September 7 recheck found only 0.000000954142896 ETH remaining, not the original reward.
TAKEAWAYModel repeated visual elements as a graph before brute forcing. Structural pairings can define both traversal order and the transformation that emits each key digit.