Although Bitcoin is considered to be the granddaddy of crypto isn’t always talked about innovating or pushing the envelope. Some want it to stay that way, but not all.
Taproot Wizardsa Bitcoin-centric Ordinals project inspired by the original Bitcoin Wizard Meme Reddit since a decade ago, it has been trying to change the way blockchain is perceived. The project raised $7.5 million in a round led by Standard Crypto co-founders Taproot Wizards Udi Wertheimer and Eric Wall that was shared exclusively with TechCrunch+. They declined to disclose a valuation.
“We’ve been in Bitcoin for over a decade. We have these memories of what Bitcoin was like. It was very experimental, but it changed,” Wertheimer said. “We want to bring back the culture of building with Bitcoin and make it magical again.”
Other investors include Geometry, Collider Ventures, StarkWare, UTXO Management, Bitcoin Frontier Fund, Masterkey and Newman Capital. The money will be used to rebuild Bitcoin’s “wizard village,” which symbolizes the ecosystem’s desire to compete with other major blockchains like Ethereum and Solana. “We want to enable or introduce a new way of being a Bitcoiner,” Wall said.
Image Credits: Taproot Wizards (opens in new window)
This investment has similar potential to the one Yuga Labs made in Bored Ape Yacht Club, said Standard Crypto co-founder Alok Vasudev. “There’s a lot they can do there to build the brand, potentially other collections under the umbrella, but more interestingly, we think there are also interesting infrastructure opportunities for a more dynamic Bitcoin ecosystem,” he said. Standard expects to be part of this movement, rather than just being a manager of a collection of NFTs.
“The reason we went for a longer round is because we believe time is of the essence,” Wertheimer said. “We care deeply about Ordinals and Taproot Wizards, but our mission is greater than that. we want to bring innovation back to Bitcoin.”
Taproot Wizards has a limited mintage of 2,121 wizards, the specific number paying tribute to the total bitcoin supply: 21 million. Of this total, 2106, or 99.3%, were registered, but less than 1% — 20 Taproot Wizards’ Ordinals — have been distributed so far. Wertheimer said they didn’t share the exact pace of his releases because they didn’t want the hype to die out quickly. “We want to find people on a mission, not those focused on JPEGS,” he said.
Active members of the community who attended “wizard school” or who are die-hard fans were ordered to get tattoos or send shower videos in wizard outfits for a chance to claim one.
