$30 million has just been raised to 'make Bitcoin magical again'

Taproot Wizards raises $30 million to develop OP_CAT on Bitcoin

The Bitcoin Ordinal Project Taproot Wizards has just completed a new round of funding, raising $30 million, continuing to pursue its goal of “making Bitcoin magical again”. This is the first round of funding after the previous seed round in 2023, when the project raised $7.5 million.

Taproot Wizards is inspired by the “Bitcoin Wizard” meme, a simple drawing on MS Paint that was used to promote the concept of magic internet money in the early days of Bitcoin. At the same time, the name of the project is also related to the Taproot upgrade, one of the important upgrades that expand Bitcoin's capabilities.

This round of funding was led by Standard Crypto, an investor who backed Taproot Wizards early on. In addition, funds such as Cyberfund, Collider Ventures and many other entities are involved.

According to co-founder Udi Wertheimer, this funding will be used to further develop the OP_CAT ecosystem, a solution that enhances the execution of smart contracts on Bitcoin. He confirmed that the project is focused entirely on OP_CAT, both in researching internal development and supporting the expansion of the external ecosystem.

The community is excited.

Soon after the funding news was announced, the community reacted quite positively, expecting that the project would create a new wind for the NFT ecosystem on Bitcoin. Many hope the event can help the Ordinal system regain momentum and bring the market back to its golden age as early as 2024. However, there are others who are skeptical about the potential return of the ordinals trend: “Are ordinals still alive?”

Simultaneously with this news, the price of the Quantum Cats collection has also increased by 20% despite the Ordinal ecosystem that has been on the verge of falling for months.

What does OP_CAT mean?

OP_CAT, short for OPCode Concatenate or OP_CONCAT, is a simple script that can open many important applications on Bitcoin. It enables automated and customized transactions, making it possible for the network to deploy many of the same advanced features as on Ethereum or Solana.

Wertheimer said the functionality requires only 10 lines of code, but can make a big difference in how Bitcoin is used.

The OP_CAT feature used to exist when Satoshi Nakamotowas also involved in the Bitcoin ecosystem, but was later disabled due to not having many practical applications yet. However, in recent years, OP_CAT has been reevaluated and has the potential to become the foundation for many new protocols on Bitcoin.

According to Wertheimer, instead of just standards like Ordinal or BRC-20, Bitcoin can now see a wave of new protocols emerge continuously, similar to the boom of Ethereum and Solana when multiple projects were launched every day.

Earlier in early 2024, the Ordinals project, developed by Casey Rodarmor, ushered in a revolution in onchain activity on Bitcoin. It makes it possible for Bitcoin to be seen not only as a form of “digital gold”, but also to become a platform for applications such as NFTs and native tokens.

However, this was also controversial as a section of Bitcoin supporters initially argued that the deployment of tokens and NFTs would make the blockchain bulky, push transaction fees high and affect those who use Bitcoin for payment purposes.

Taproot Wizards is one of the most prominent projects in this movement. In February 2023, the Taproot Wizard #0001 mint process created a 4MB block, the largest in Bitcoin history at the time.

The project team also released the Quantum Cats collection, which is currently the largest set of NFTs capitalized on Bitcoin.

In addition to onchain activities, Taproot Wizards also hosts numerous events around the globe through its “Wizard School” program, attracting strong interest from the community and contributing to the development of the Bitcoin ecosystem.