An Introduction to Taproot Wizards Ordinals

The launch of the Ordinals protocol in January 2023 birthed a new community of Bitcoin Ordinals creators and collectors. Taproot Wizards are among the pioneers in this community, attempting to make Bitcoin magical again. 

In this guide, you will learn about Taproot Wizards and why they are so popular in the Ordinals community.  

What Are Taproot Wizards? 

Taproot Wizards is a collection of 2,108 unique JPEGs of “magical” wizards inscribed on Bitcoin using the Ordinals Protocol. The collection is inspired by the Bitcoin “magic internet money” meme that emerged on Reddit in 2013.

This meme was an advertisement created for the r/Bitcoin subreddit by an artist using the username Mavensbot. It featured a Microsoft Paint illustration of a wizard, as shown below. 

The meme was a huge success, helping to nearly double r/Bitcoin’s membership to 74,000. Moreover, many Bitcoiners at the time believed that the meme partly contributed to the rise in Bitcoin’s price, which climbed from $287 on November 6, 2013, when the meme went live, to $1,132 23 days later.

Taproot Wizard #0001 looks similar to the 2013 Bitcoin meme with a few tweaks. For instance, the caption reads: “Magic internet JPEGs” instead of “Magic internet money.” The wizard illustration on the inscription also looks different.

The Taproot Wizards project plans to eventually inscribe 2,121 Ordinals, paying tribute to Bitcoin’s maximum supply of 21 million. So far, the project has inscribed 2,108 Wizards and only distributed less than 1%.

Who Are the Creators of Taproot Wizards? 

Taproot Wizards were created by developers Udi Wertheimer, Eric Wall, and OxFAR to make Bitcoin magical again. They inscribed the JPEGs in February 2023, shortly after the launch of the Ordinals protocol.

Wertheimer, Wall, and OxFAR want to restore the culture of building on Bitcoin. They believe the early Bitcoin culture of innovating has faded away and been replaced by a culture that is too dismissive of new ideas. 

As a result, Wertheimer has criticized Bitcoin maximalists, who are against Ordinals because they refuse to accept that the Bitcoin blockchain can be used for more than just facilitating payments. In his opinion, Ordinals can advance Bitcoin through various areas of innovation. 

The team introduced Taproot Wizards with a 3.96 MB block, the largest in Bitcoin history. This is the closest any block has come to hitting the 4 MB block limit. The block contained Taproot Wizard #0001, which occupied 99% of the space.

Taproot Wizards Raised $7.5 Million: Here’s What Magic They Have Planned

In November 2023, the Taproot Wizards team announced a seed funding round of $7.5 million led by venture capital firm Standard Crypto. The other participants in this funding round were StarkWare, Bitcoin Frontier Fund, UTXO Management, Geometry, Masterkey, and Newman Capital.

The team plans to use these funds to rebuild the 'wizard village,' an ecosystem designed to help Bitcoin compete with blockchains like Ethereum and Solana, known for supporting dApp development and asset issuance.

Where Can You Buy Taproot Wizards?

‍Unfortunately, you can't currently buy Taproot Wizards Ordinals, as the collection has not yet been launched. 

Instead, the project is prioritizing building a community of people aligned with its goals rather than attracting speculators only interested in trading the JPEGs.

While Taproot Wizards aren't yet available on Ordinals marketplaces, interested individuals can join the Wizard School for a chance to win an inscription. The school allows participants to complete various quests in exchange for a future reward. Interested participants can still take part in future quests even if they missed the first four. 

The Taproot Wizards team hasn’t provided any details about when the collection will launch.

GMEOW! Taproot Wizards Launch Quantum Cats

While we will have to wait a little longer for Taproot Wizards to unveil its magical wizards onto Bitcoin, the wizard hat-wearing team has unveiled an entirely new Ordinals collection called Quantum Cats. 

Quantum Cats is a collection of 3,333 unique cat images minted on the Bitcoin blockchain. 

Taproot Wizards designed the collection as a tribute to a Bitcoin improvement proposal called OP_CAT, which joins two elements in a stack and then puts them back into the stack. 

The collection’s inscription technique makes it unique and sets it apart from other digital artwork. Because of Evolving Inscriptions, Quantum Cats are not static images. Instead, they are evolving elements, mimicking the dynamic nature of blockchain technology. 

The sale of the Quantum Cats took place on February 5, 2024. Taproot Wizards sold all 3,000 Ordinal inscriptions, raising about $13 million from the entire collection. Despite earlier technical hitches that saw the project postpone the mint, the successful sale is a significant milestone for the relatively new Bitcoin Ordinals sector. 

Moreover, a Quantum Cat Odinals sold for $250,000 at an auction at Sotheby’s, highlighting the position Ordinals have taken in the digital art space. Meow meow.

Securely Store & Manage Your Taproot Wizards With Xverse Once They Go Live

Xverse is a Bitcoin Web3 wallet that allows users to securely store and manage their Ordinal inscriptions, which means you can use Xverse to hold your Taproot Wizards once they go live. 

The market-leading Bitcoin Ordinals wallet also supports Bitcoin (BTC) and Bitcoin-native tokens, such as BRC-20 tokens, as well as Stacks (STX) and Stacks-based tokens, such as STX-20. 

Download the Xverse mobile app or Chrome extension now to start exploring the magical world of Bitcoin Ordinals.