Taproot Wizards

Context

Taproot Wizards is a collection of 2121 PFPs on Bitcoin, led by Udi Wertheimer. Although already inscribed on-chain, the NFTs are not for sale…yet.

The project began in February with Inscription #652, which made history as the largest Bitcoin block and transaction ever at 4MB.

Collectors can still get on the whitelist by undergoing quests on the official Taproot Wizards website.

The next quest is set to open on July 31st, and there’s no indication that this will be the last, which leads us to believe that the actual sale is at least a few months away.

Our Take

In the beginning, there was a subreddit

Back in 2013, exactly one decade ago, when crypto Twitter was still referred to as cryptography Twitter (probably), bitcoin enthusiasts gathered around a subreddit called /r/bitcoin.

By November 2013 this community had reached 56,000 subscribers – but they wanted more.

And given that they had no influencers, no YouTubers, no CEOs publicly supporting and buying their token, they did what they could: they bought an ad.

According to the lore, /r/bitcoin mods made a thread asking people to submit designs for the ad, and within an hour /u/mavensbot* got back to them, with this:

Anyone around Reddit during those days remembers this image. The art perfectly encapsulates what Bitcoin was at the time: fun, experimental, welcoming, a little scuffed. It’s iconic.

Much of these vibes were lost over the years

The Bitcoin brand entered its Very Serious phase, where every issue, every debate, was made to be a matter of life and death.

Now, of course, some of this is maybe warranted – Bitcoin is trying to solve significant problems in the world. But people can’t always be in a state of war. They need some fun.

Ordinals is a return to that sense of wonder and humor. It’s giving people “Early Bitcoin” vibes.

And Taproot Wizards is the flagship project of this movement

At the head of the team you have Udi Wertheimer, a sharp commentator who spends most of his time debating Bitcoin maxis that want nothing more than to kill Ordinals.

Literally – these people go around conferences saying that Bitcoin needs to radically change to eliminate those pesky NFTs.

Meanwhile – Udi goes around conferences doing Fortnite dances in a Wizards costume.

The maxis never stood a chance

He who controls the memes, controls the universe, as they say (they say this right?).

Udi has also put together a coalition of other respected Twitter thinkbois that have aligned around what they’re calling Bitcoin Season 2, including Eric Wall and Nic Carter. And of course, Taproot Wizards is their mascot.

This battle for Bitcoin won’t end anytime soon. That means that the Wizards, for better or worse, will continue to be in the limelight. And the Magic Internet Money meme will once again, 10 years later, become a banner used to bring people into the space.

So let’s review

• Ordinals is the fastest-growing segment in NFTs

• This is causing huge changes in Bitcoin tech/culture

• Taproot Wizards is the face of the movement

• They chose the perfect meme for the job

• The community already has a place in history 

Now how do you actually get one?

You do quests, naturally. Previously this included things like adding a Wizard emoji to your Twitter profile or filming yourself taking a shower in a Wizard costume.

Yours Truly hasn’t done any of these yet, mostly due to procrastination, but also because I’m just not filming myself taking a shower for Twitter, no matter how cool the NFT is.

But I’ll be there for the next one.