This has been used for centuries. It is not a new invention. Hundreds of years ago, it was not unusual to publish an encrypted solution of some mathematical pr

This has been used for centuries. It is not a new invention. Hundreds of years ago, it was not unusual to publish an encrypted solution of some mathematical problem, in order to establish priority without disclosing the algorithm that was used. Of course, at that time very simple encryption methods were used, for instance an anagram of the solution was published (i.e. encryption by letter transposition).