{"id":12117,"date":"2018-01-22T17:04:22","date_gmt":"2018-01-22T16:04:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.embl.de\/?p=12117"},"modified":"2024-03-22T23:30:09","modified_gmt":"2024-03-22T22:30:09","slug":"12117","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/science\/12117\/","title":{"rendered":"Belgian PhD student decodes DNA and wins a Bitcoin"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"vf-box vf-box--normal vf-box-theme--primary\">\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"callout secondary wp-block-heading\">Summary<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>DNA Storage scientist Nick Goldman issued the Bitcoin Challenge at World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, January 2015.<\/li><li>One week before the 21 January 2018 deadline, PhD student Sander Wuyts of the University of Antwerp is the first to decode the encrypted Bitcoin, taking ownership.<\/li><li>Decryption of encoded information in the DNA sample demonstrates that the digital storage method is practical<\/li><li>Initiative of bioengineering PhD student inspires future research.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"vf-box__text\"><\/p><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The challenge<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>On 21 January 2015, Nick Goldman of the European Bioinformatics Institute&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ebi.ac.uk\/research\/goldman\/dna-storage\">explained a new method for storing digital information in DNA<\/a> to a packed audience at a&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.weforum.org\/\">World Economic Forum<\/a>&nbsp;meeting in Davos, Switzerland. At the end of his talk, he issued a challenge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Goldman distributed test tubes containing samples of DNA encoding 1 Bitcoin to the audience (and subsequently posted samples to people who requested them). The first person to sequence (read) the DNA and decode the files it contained could take possession of the Bitcoin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"vf-blockquote\"><p>We\u2019ve bought a Bitcoin and encoded the information into DNA&#8230;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cBitcoin is a form of money that now only exists on computers, and with cryptography, that\u2019s something we can easily store in DNA,\u201d explained&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=tBvd7OSDGgQ\">Goldman in 2015<\/a>. \u201cWe\u2019ve bought a Bitcoin and encoded the information into DNA. You can follow the technical description of our method and sequence the sample, decode the Bitcoin. Whoever gets there first and decodes it gets the Bitcoin.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To win, competitors need to decode the DNA sample to find its \u2018private key\u2019. All they needed was the sample, access to a DNA sequencing machine and a grasp of how the code works.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The value of a Bitcoin in 2015: around \u20ac200.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The deadline: 21 January 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Good timing<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>One week from the deadline, Sander Wuyts, PhD student in the Department of Bioscience Engineering at the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.uantwerpen.be\/en\/faculties\/faculty-of-science\/departments\/bioscience-engineering\/\">University of Antwerp<\/a>&nbsp;and Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium, was the first to master the method and decode the private key, taking possession of the Bitcoin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Its value on 19 January 2018: around \u20ac9500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"vf-figure  | vf-figure--align vf-figure--align-centered \"><a href=\"https:\/\/news.embl.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/bitcoin_challenge_wide_1024x512.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"512\" class=\"vf-figure__image\" src=\"https:\/\/news.embl.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/bitcoin_challenge_wide_1024x512-1024x512.jpg\" alt=\"Nick Goldman at Davos, 21 January 2015\" class=\"wp-image-12122\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/bitcoin_challenge_wide_1024x512-1024x512.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/bitcoin_challenge_wide_1024x512-300x150.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/bitcoin_challenge_wide_1024x512-768x384.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"vf-figure__caption\">Nick Goldman issues his &#8220;DNA Storage Bitcoin Challenge&#8221; at the 2015 World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland. [Video at https:\/\/www.weforum.org\/agenda\/2015\/03\/video-can-dna-preserve-our-data\/]<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The contender<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Now completing his PhD in microbiology \u2013 exploring the universe of bacteria through DNA \u2013 Wuyts has the right balance of passion, coding skills and great colleagues to tackle complex puzzles like Goldman\u2019s &#8220;DNA Storage Bitcoin Challenge&#8221;.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThis challenge made me really think about DNA as an information carrier for things other than biology,\u201d says Wuyts. \u201cBefore, I always thought of DNA as inherently coupled to biological life. For example, in my PhD, DNA is the main molecule I use to figure out which bacteria are alive in food fermentation. This challenge brought home that DNA can be much more than that. \u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Wuyts saw Goldman issue the challenge on YouTube back in 2015, but it was the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/EBIgoldman\/status\/937973617484234752\">tweet about the deadline in December 2017<\/a>&nbsp;\u2013 plus the skills he had acquired in the meantime \u2013 that made him swing into action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image vf-u-width__50\"><figure class=\"vf-figure  | vf-figure--align vf-figure--align-inline-start  \"><a href=\"https:\/\/news.embl.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Tweet_Nick_5December2017_border.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"292\" height=\"300\" class=\"vf-figure__image\" src=\"https:\/\/news.embl.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Tweet_Nick_5December2017_border-292x300.jpg\" alt=\"Tweet from @EBIGoldman on 5 December 2017\" class=\"wp-image-12138\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Tweet_Nick_5December2017_border-292x300.jpg 292w, https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Tweet_Nick_5December2017_border.jpg 619w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 292px) 100vw, 292px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"vf-figure__caption\">Nick Goldman tweets a reminder about the DNA Storage Bitcoin Challenge on 5 December 2017<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI thought, that\u2019s the challenge for me! I tweeted to see if anyone out there had a DNA sample left over, and Nick got right back to me and sent me some. My supervisor was very supportive of me doing this side project (though a bit surprised that I managed it), so I contacted&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.illumina.com\/\">Illumina<\/a>&nbsp;for a sequencing kit and my colleague Eline Oerlemans offered to help me load the DNA sequencer. In the end it didn\u2019t cost us anything but our time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The method for encrypting digital information in DNA was developed by a group at EMBL-EBI. Bitcoin, a cryptocurrency, is based on Blockchain software, which is Open Source and free for anyone to use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">False starts<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Once he got started, Wuyts became increasingly aware that decoding the Bitcoin wouldn\u2019t be quite as simple as following a recipe. After one failed attempt and an essential pause over Christmas, he worked tirelessly, with the help of his colleague Stijn Wittouck, to put the data from sequencing into the right order and decode the files.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It didn\u2019t work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cOne week before the deadline, I was starting to give up. It felt like we didn\u2019t produce enough good quality data to decode the whole thing. However, on the way home from a small hackathon together with Stijn I realised that I made a mistake in one of the algorithms. At home I deleted just one line of code and re-ran the whole program overnight. That next Sunday I was extremely surprised and excited that suddenly the decoded files were right there, perfectly readable \u2013 I clicked on them and they opened. There were the instructions on how to claim the Bitcoin, a drawing of James Joyce and some other things.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a class=\"readmore\" href=\"https:\/\/swuyts.wordpress.com\/2018\/01\/16\/from-dna-to-bitcoin-how-i-won-the-davos-bitcoin-challenge\/\">Read Sander\u2019s blog post about How He Did It<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What Sander won<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Wuyts, who once invested poster-prize money in cryptocurrency to figure out how this technology works, is proud of having won the challenge but cautious about the prize.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"vf-blockquote\"><p>Before participating in this challenge I had my doubts about the feasibility of such a DNA technology \u2013 but now I don\u2019t&#8230;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI didn\u2019t win thousands of euros, I won one Bitcoin,\u201d he says. \u201cI will probably cash it out, because I have my doubts about the long-term value of this cryptocurrency. What\u2019s more important is that before participating in this challenge I had my doubts about the feasibility of such a DNA technology \u2013 but now I don\u2019t. Instead I have a new perspective on DNA that might come in handy in my future research.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Wuyts intends to use some of the proceeds from selling the Bitcoin to invest in future science projects, thank the people who helped him, and celebrate passing his PhD in style, with everyone who has supported him along the way.<\/p>\n\n\n<hr class=\"vf-divider\"\/>\n\n\n<p><em>This post was originally published on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ebi.ac.uk\/about\/news\/press-releases\/belgian-phd-student-decodes-dna-wins-bitcoin\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"canonical nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-href=\"https:\/\/www.ebi.ac.uk\/about\/news\/press-releases\/belgian-phd-student-decodes-dna-wins-bitcoin\">EMBL-EBI News<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Nick Goldman of EMBL-EBI issued a challenge in 2015. In 2018, a winner emerged just in time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":12118,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,17591],"tags":[550,36,469,52],"embl_taxonomy":[],"class_list":["post-12117","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-science","category-science-technology","tag-dna-storage","tag-embl-ebi","tag-goldman","tag-synthetic-biology"],"acf":{"article_intro":"<p><em>Antwerp, Belgium\u00a022 January 2018\u00a0 <\/em>\u2013 University of Antwerp PhD student Sander Wuyts has won the DNA Storage Bitcoin Challenge, issued by Nick Goldman of the European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI) in 2015. The value of the Bitcoin has risen rapidly in three years, while the value of scientific progress is inestimable.<\/p>\n","related_links":[{"link_description":"Blog post by Sander Wuyts: From DNA to Bitcoin: How I Won the Davos Bitcoin Challenge","link_url":"https:\/\/swuyts.wordpress.com\/2018\/01\/16\/from-dna-to-bitcoin-how-i-won-the-davos-bitcoin-challenge\/"},{"link_description":"Video of Nick Goldman issuing the \"DNA Storage Bitcoin Challenge\" at the 2015 World Economic Forum meeting in Davos","link_url":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=tBvd7OSDGgQ"}],"article_sources":[{"source_description":"<p>Goldman N, et al. (2013).\u00a0Towards practical, high-capacity, low-maintenance information storage in synthesized DNA.\u00a0<em>Nature<\/em>\u00a0494:77-80; DOI: 10.1038\/nature11875<\/p>\n","source_link_url":"http:\/\/europepmc.org\/articles\/PMC3672958"}],"vf_locked":false,"featured":false,"color":"#007B53"},"embl_taxonomy_terms":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Belgian PhD student decodes DNA and wins a Bitcoin<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Three years after EMBL-EBI scientist Nick Goldman issues his \u2018DNA Storage Bitcoin Challenge\u2019, PhD student Sander Wuyts decodes the key.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/science\/12117\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Belgian PhD student decodes DNA and wins a Bitcoin\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Three years after EMBL-EBI scientist Nick Goldman issues his \u2018DNA Storage Bitcoin Challenge\u2019, PhD student Sander Wuyts decodes the key.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/science\/12117\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"EMBL\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/embl.org\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"www.facebook.com\/EMBLEBI\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-01-22T16:04:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-03-22T22:30:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Bitcoin_challenge_c_WUYTS_Sander_v_EMBL_620x425.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"634\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"434\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mary Todd Bergman\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@EMBLEBI\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@embl\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Mary Todd Bergman\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"NewsArticle\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/science\/12117\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/science\/12117\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Mary Todd Bergman\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/052a43af2beb3860bffa67c0f0474875\"},\"headline\":\"Belgian PhD student decodes DNA and wins a Bitcoin\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-01-22T16:04:22+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-03-22T22:30:09+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/science\/12117\/\"},\"wordCount\":996,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/science\/12117\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Bitcoin_challenge_c_WUYTS_Sander_v_EMBL_620x425.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"dna storage\",\"embl-ebi\",\"goldman\",\"synthetic biology\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Science\",\"Science &amp; Technology\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/science\/12117\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/science\/12117\/\",\"name\":\"Belgian PhD student decodes DNA and wins a Bitcoin\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/science\/12117\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/science\/12117\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Bitcoin_challenge_c_WUYTS_Sander_v_EMBL_620x425.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-01-22T16:04:22+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-03-22T22:30:09+00:00\",\"description\":\"Three years after EMBL-EBI scientist Nick Goldman issues his \u2018DNA Storage Bitcoin Challenge\u2019, PhD student Sander Wuyts decodes the key.\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/science\/12117\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/science\/12117\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Bitcoin_challenge_c_WUYTS_Sander_v_EMBL_620x425.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Bitcoin_challenge_c_WUYTS_Sander_v_EMBL_620x425.jpg\",\"width\":634,\"height\":434,\"caption\":\"Sample of DNA with one Bitcoin (and some other files) embedded, as posted to Sander Wuyts. [Image credit: Sander Wuyts]\"},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/\",\"name\":\"European Molecular Biology Laboratory News\",\"description\":\"News from the European Molecular Biology Laboratory\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/#organization\"},\"alternateName\":\"EMBL News\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/#organization\",\"name\":\"European Molecular Biology Laboratory\",\"alternateName\":\"EMBL\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/EMBL_logo_colour-1-300x144-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/EMBL_logo_colour-1-300x144-1.png\",\"width\":300,\"height\":144,\"caption\":\"European Molecular Biology Laboratory\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/embl.org\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/embl\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/embl_org\/\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/15813\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/emblmedia\/\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/052a43af2beb3860bffa67c0f0474875\",\"name\":\"Mary Todd Bergman\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/61b3547fb0d7b56f0de2f0800bbfe2be156d2497f70f754bde9028f71fd85683?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/61b3547fb0d7b56f0de2f0800bbfe2be156d2497f70f754bde9028f71fd85683?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Mary Todd Bergman\"},\"description\":\"Mary Todd Bergman is the Senior Communications Officer at EMBL-EBI. She is surrounded by people who have a calling and love what they do, and helps them spread the word about it. Who could ask for more?\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.ebi.ac.uk\",\"www.facebook.com\/EMBLEBI\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/EMBLEBI\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/author\/mary\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Belgian PhD student decodes DNA and wins a Bitcoin","description":"Three years after EMBL-EBI scientist Nick Goldman issues his \u2018DNA Storage Bitcoin Challenge\u2019, PhD student Sander Wuyts decodes the key.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/science\/12117\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Belgian PhD student decodes DNA and wins a Bitcoin","og_description":"Three years after EMBL-EBI scientist Nick Goldman issues his \u2018DNA Storage Bitcoin Challenge\u2019, PhD student Sander Wuyts decodes the key.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/science\/12117\/","og_site_name":"EMBL","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/embl.org\/","article_author":"www.facebook.com\/EMBLEBI","article_published_time":"2018-01-22T16:04:22+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-03-22T22:30:09+00:00","og_image":[{"width":634,"height":434,"url":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Bitcoin_challenge_c_WUYTS_Sander_v_EMBL_620x425.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Mary Todd Bergman","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@EMBLEBI","twitter_site":"@embl","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Mary Todd Bergman","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/science\/12117\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/science\/12117\/"},"author":{"name":"Mary Todd Bergman","@id":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/052a43af2beb3860bffa67c0f0474875"},"headline":"Belgian PhD student decodes DNA and wins a Bitcoin","datePublished":"2018-01-22T16:04:22+00:00","dateModified":"2024-03-22T22:30:09+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/science\/12117\/"},"wordCount":996,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/science\/12117\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Bitcoin_challenge_c_WUYTS_Sander_v_EMBL_620x425.jpg","keywords":["dna storage","embl-ebi","goldman","synthetic biology"],"articleSection":["Science","Science &amp; Technology"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/science\/12117\/","url":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/science\/12117\/","name":"Belgian PhD student decodes DNA and wins a Bitcoin","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/science\/12117\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/science\/12117\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Bitcoin_challenge_c_WUYTS_Sander_v_EMBL_620x425.jpg","datePublished":"2018-01-22T16:04:22+00:00","dateModified":"2024-03-22T22:30:09+00:00","description":"Three years after EMBL-EBI scientist Nick Goldman issues his \u2018DNA Storage Bitcoin Challenge\u2019, PhD student Sander Wuyts decodes the key.","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/science\/12117\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/science\/12117\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Bitcoin_challenge_c_WUYTS_Sander_v_EMBL_620x425.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Bitcoin_challenge_c_WUYTS_Sander_v_EMBL_620x425.jpg","width":634,"height":434,"caption":"Sample of DNA with one Bitcoin (and some other files) embedded, as posted to Sander Wuyts. [Image credit: Sander Wuyts]"},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/","name":"European Molecular Biology Laboratory News","description":"News from the European Molecular Biology Laboratory","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/#organization"},"alternateName":"EMBL News","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/#organization","name":"European Molecular Biology Laboratory","alternateName":"EMBL","url":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/EMBL_logo_colour-1-300x144-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/EMBL_logo_colour-1-300x144-1.png","width":300,"height":144,"caption":"European Molecular Biology Laboratory"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/embl.org\/","https:\/\/x.com\/embl","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/embl_org\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/15813\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/emblmedia\/"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/052a43af2beb3860bffa67c0f0474875","name":"Mary Todd Bergman","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/61b3547fb0d7b56f0de2f0800bbfe2be156d2497f70f754bde9028f71fd85683?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/61b3547fb0d7b56f0de2f0800bbfe2be156d2497f70f754bde9028f71fd85683?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Mary Todd Bergman"},"description":"Mary Todd Bergman is the Senior Communications Officer at EMBL-EBI. She is surrounded by people who have a calling and love what they do, and helps them spread the word about it. Who could ask for more?","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.ebi.ac.uk","www.facebook.com\/EMBLEBI","https:\/\/x.com\/EMBLEBI"],"url":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/author\/mary\/"}]}},"field_target_display":"embl","field_article_language":{"value":"english","label":"English"},"fimg_url":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Bitcoin_challenge_c_WUYTS_Sander_v_EMBL_620x425.jpg","featured_image_src":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Bitcoin_challenge_c_WUYTS_Sander_v_EMBL_620x425.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12117","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12117"}],"version-history":[{"count":22,"href":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12117\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22097,"href":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12117\/revisions\/22097"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12118"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12117"},{"taxonomy":"embl_taxonomy","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/embl_taxonomy?post=12117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}