The Taproot Wizards initiative, also known as the Bitcoin Ordinals project, has successfully secured $7.5 million in seed funding through a funding round led by the venture capital firm Standard Crypto. Other notable contributors in this funding round include Geometry, Collider Ventures, StarkWare, UTXO Management, Bitcoin Frontier Fund, Masterkey, and Newman Capital, as announced by the project team on Thursday.
Taproot Wizards, self-described as creators of “magic internet JPEGs,” is dedicated to the mission of “making bitcoin magical again.” The project is helmed by well-known Bitcoin educators and social media influencers Udi Wertheimer and Eric Wall, who gained attention for donning wizard outfits at the Bitcoin 2023 conference in Miami.
The digital art collection offered by Taproot Wizards features unique Microsoft Paint images depicting wizards, harkening back to a longstanding meme in Bitcoin circles that playfully refers to the original cryptocurrency as “magic internet money.”
The controversial Bitcoin Ordinals protocol
Central to Taproot Wizards is the Ordinals protocol, a mechanism enabling users to embed data directly into the Bitcoin blockchain, essentially generating non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on the Bitcoin network.
Yet, the Ordinals protocol has been a source of contention within the Bitcoin community since its inception. Some view digital art pieces as an inefficient use of valuable block space, potentially inflating the cost of genuine monetary Bitcoin transactions for all users.
Notwithstanding the debate, the protocol has garnered traction, with users utilizing it to inscribe a diverse range of content onto the Bitcoin blockchain — from distinctive art creations to a video featuring Elon Musk.
