Note to everyone in technology...Hacker News isn't the crowd that you need to impress.

The cryptanalysis community, in particular, has a small group of experts that can credibly critique your ideas. They would probably love to pick apart a new system...seriously in the hopes that it advances the art, but critically in the case that it doesn't.

Claims of some kind of "tightly knit" cabal of closed minded people excluding you would be a warning sign. (It sounds like creationism. Not that this is what these guys did. I'm just saying.)

Maybe instead of a competition they could have just approached some of the cryptanalysis community for an early look? Those guys could kick the tires and pass it on to others that they know. That really seems to be how this area works.