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Edited by Iti9 at 25-12-2023 12:50 PM
Title: Why Is a $7.5 Million Funded 4MB Graffiti Embracing Bitcoin's "Wizard Culture"?
Former Bitcoin ecosystem minimalists may be changing their "stale beliefs" and embracing a larger Bitcoin ecosystem amid the current Bitcoin ecosystem's fervor. On November 23, Bitcoin developer and former AWS Chief Engineer Rijndael (@rot13maxi) announced that he would join the Bitcoin Ordinals project Taproot Wizards as the CTO.
Notably, this Bitcoin OG had previously deployed a BRC-20 token sniper robot named "Sophon" and expressed high praise for Taproot Wizards. The Bitcoin OG chose to "stay and revolutionize" as Rijndael detailed his past work experience, expressed confidence in the future development of the Ordinals ecosystem, and believed that Taproot Wizards could create a new future.
Over the past 15 years, Rijndael has been involved in distributed systems, infrastructure, and applied cryptography, later becoming the technical lead for Amazon's NFT project. Rijndael developed a genuine interest in Bitcoin in recent years, particularly engaging in self-hosted work on the Bitkey wallet launched by Block.
Initially, Rijndael believed that the key challenge for Bitcoin to achieve mass adoption was addressing the issue of self-hosting. However, with the emergence of Ordinals earlier this year, everything seemed to change. Rijndael got acquainted with Taproot Wizards co-founders Eric Wall (@ercwl) and Udi Wertheimer (@udiWertheimer) when Ordinals was gaining traction, and Taproot Wizards' popularity preceded Ordinals.
Rijndael highly praised their team and technology, emphasizing that "a currency not controlled by governments is a powerful revolution, and Bitcoin is interesting and peculiar."
He pointed out that when Ordinals emerged, people who had only a passing interest in Bitcoin or had never used it before joined Discord to learn how to set up a Bitcoin full node. Some began setting up Lightning wallets for the first time, understanding how Bitcoin works, reading about Bitcoin's origins and stories, and more. According to Rijndael, "Ordinals is an ideal place to try new cutting-edge technologies."
Simultaneously, Rijndael did not shy away from discussing the speculative nature behind Ordinals. He saw it as a positive force, attracting users, developers, and capital to build new tools and services, creating a positive feedback loop.
Rijndael chose to temporarily set aside the issue of Bitcoin's self-hosting and fully embraced the Ordinals ecosystem. He hopes to "experience NgU, stay and revolutionize" and encourages Bitcoin holders to genuinely experience Bitcoin without adhering to a specific purist ideology. Choosing Taproot Wizards, Rijndael believes it is the best option for cultural and technological transformation.
Before joining Taproot Wizards, Rijndael deployed a BRC-20 token sniper robot named "Sophon" on October 3. The robot operated based on the "first come, first served" rule, monitoring the mempool and deploying tokens with the same name as soon as it detected a new deployment.
However, Sophon operated for less than a month before Rijndael shut it down due to "spending too much gas fees." Rijndael donated the Bitcoin from UTXO to opensats and recently open-sourced the Sophon code. During this period, Sophon briefly caused a deployment trough for BRC-20 tokens.
Capital Attracted to the ""Wizard Culture,"" but VCs Have No Say
Taproot Wizards, favored by Rijndael, recently completed funding. Taproot Wizards is an NFT project created on the Bitcoin chain, initiated by Udi Wertheimer, commemorating the Taproot upgrade and a classic image in the Bitcoin community—the Bitcoin wizard.
On November 16, Taproot Wizards announced a $7.5 million funding round led by Standard Crypto, with participation from Geometry, Collider Ventures, StarkWare, UTXO Management, Bitcoin Frontier Fund, Masterkey, Newman Capital, and others.
@TO, a partner at Bitcoin Frontier Fund, shared an investment intention letter he sent to @udiWertheimer and @ercwl on April 5, 2023. In the letter, @TO expressed support for Taproot Wizards' investment intentions. However, Udi did not give any special treatment to @TO, replying under his comment: "Thank you for your support! If you want a wizard, go take a shower!"
Taproot Wizards aims to reawaken the culture of building and innovating on Bitcoin. The project has limited issuance of 2121 wizard NFTs, with less than 1% of Taproot Wizards' Ordinals minted to date. Notably, before the recent Bitcoin ecosystem narrative, Taproot Wizards had already generated considerable attention earlier this year.
In March, the Taproot Wizard official social media shared founder Udi Wertheimer's journey: "On the day Silicon Valley Bank announced its closure and the USDC panic day, I decided to launch the Taproot Wizard NFT project today and let people record videos of themselves wearing wizard costumes while taking a bath."
"Making bitcoin magical again" has become one of the main narratives for Taproot Wizards.
Bitcoin's Oldest Meme
The Bitcoin wizard image first appeared in February 2013 when /r/Bitcoin administrator theymos sought creative ideas for community advertisements. Within an hour, a friend named /u/mavensbot submitted the artwork titled "Magic Internet Money Wizard."
With its creative art style, eye-catching design, and straightforward cultural slogans, the artwork quickly became the most popular answer on the forum. Later, this image was chosen as the official promotional image for the /r/Bitcoin forum and was posted on Reddit for some time.
The simple and catchy design brought a lot of traffic to the /r/Bitcoin forum, attracting more people who wanted to see what this "not very ad-like ad" was trying to express and represent. Many people came to know, understand, buy, and spread Bitcoin. It's worth noting that at that time, the price of Bitcoin was only $287.
This image quickly became a symbolic symbol in the Bitcoin community, representing the mystery and charm of Bitcoin. Taproot Wizards incorporated elements related to the Taproot upgrade into this NFT, building upon the existing image.
Interestingly, the Taproot Wizards' recent claim of "the largest Bitcoin block in history" and the largest transaction successfully led to Taproot Wizards being called the "largest Bitcoin block in history." This further fueled the popularity of Taproot Wizards.
Udi confirmed earlier this year on social media that Taproot Wizards |
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Post time 5-12-2023 21:25:40