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A DNA challenge that went unsolved for three years is now a mystery no more thanks to a PhD student who won 1 BTC as a result.
A young PhD student has won 1 bitcoin by cracking a code in a tube of DNA - a challenge created at the 2015 World Economic Forum in Davos.
University of Antwerp doctoral student Sander Wuyts successfully solved the DNA Storage Bitcoin Challenge before the deadline set by its creator, European Bioinformatics Institute professor Nick Goldman.
āGoldman was still willing to send me a tube of DNA,ā Wuyts recounts in an accompanying release about how he only decided to enter at the end of 2017 after seeing a tweet from the well-known British scientist.
āThe DNA contained instructions on how to claim the bitcoin, the logo of the European Bioinformatics Institute, a drawing of James Joyce and a few other things.ā
Wuyts and a small team collaborated to win the prize, even organizing a āsmall hackathonā to widen the potential for cracking the DNA code.
As the 2018 Davos Forum gets underway with Cointelegraph in attendance, Wuytsā is the latest example in what has been a common trend in Bitcoin for several years: incentivizing innovation, mostly through hackathons, to further the capabilities of new technology.
Wuyts continued about the challengeās background:
āTo be honest, I had my doubts about the feasibility of using DNA to store data. This challenge changed that. Now I know very well that this new technology offers great opportunities, maybe even for my own future research.ā
He added he would use the Bitcoin prize money to fund research and reward those who helped him win.
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