How it works

A novel, and a bitcoin treasure hunt that accompanies it. Free. Where everything can be verified.

The door

The home page is a door closed by an eight-digit padlock. The code is a date bitcoiners know, and the hint behind the “?” is enough for everyone else. Without the code, nothing is lost: the door opens by itself for everyone on 3 January 2027 at 18:15:05 UTC, the hour of Bitcoin’s first block, eighteen years earlier.

The hunt

Twenty-four chests, one a month, from January 2027 to December 2028. Each chest holds a sum in bitcoin, placed in advance on the chain, at an address anyone can look at. Two riddles a month, on the 3rd and the 17th, published right here: two riddles open one chest. The first to solve both finds the key and takes the chest. A chest nobody finds stays there to be taken, with no time limit.

Before the main hunt, hunt zero: three chests of €100, six riddles from 3 November 2026, so everyone can learn to play for real.

What is free

Everything. Playing costs nothing and needs no sign-up. The novel The Angel of the Water accompanies the hunt: it tells the story, it contains no riddle, and buying it gives no advantage. Someone who never reads the book has the same chances as someone who does.

The tools

• The site publishes the riddles and shows the state of the chests.
• GodGift Core, a small free program (Windows, Mac, Linux, or in the browser), verifies everything by itself: that the chests exist, that the sums are there, that the messages really come from the author. It is also where you test your answers.
• The Bitcoin chain keeps the record: the author’s commitment is engraved there before the start, every chest is visible there, every opening is public.
• The Cave is the author’s offline computer, which signs the messages and prepares the chests without ever touching the Internet.

What is verifiable, and what is not promised

The chests, their amounts, the dates and the signed messages can be verified by anyone, without trusting anyone. Nothing else is promised: no winnings, no ease, nor that the treasure will be worth tomorrow what it is worth today. The project’s motto is two sentences: Everything is verifiable. Nothing is promised.

Words you will meet

Chest

A bitcoin address holding a sum, opened by a key that two riddles let you recover.

Riddle

A question published on the site. Its answer is made of French words (three; four for a cathedral and the final chest).

Signed message

A text from the author with a signature GodGift Core can verify: nobody can speak in his place.

Companion

A reader who helps make the book and the hunt known, and receives a share of every sale they bring. Learn more.

Cry

A small secret published one hour after a chest’s second riddle: the last piece of the key. Without it, the answers are not enough; with it, the first to have the answers can open.

Witness

A hunter who, after verifying with GodGift Core, lets the program publish a report signed by an anonymous key (the block, the fingerprints, the result). Never imposed, no personal data, and they can stop at any time.

To go further: the frequently asked questions, what we learned from the Chouette d’Or, the words of the hunt. The full rules are in the terms and conditions.