Bitcoin Ordinals startup Taproot Wizards raises $7.5 million in seed round

Quick Take

  • The organization, a Bitcoin-focused project giving out Ordinals to community members as it strives to build an engaged community, raised $7.5 million in seed round financing led by Standard Crypto.
  • Transactions on the Bitcoin network hit an all-time high in September thanks in part to the hype surrounding Ordinals.

Hoping to re-infuse the Bitcoin community with "magic," quirky startup Taproots Wizards has raised $7.5 million in seed round financing with crypto-focused venture capitalist Standard Crypto leading the round.

"We heard about bitcoin 10 years ago. And we're here to fix it," Taproot Wizards posted to X on Thursday. "Our mission is to repopulate Bitcoin’s 10-year-old wizard village." 

The organization is a "Bitcoin-focused Ordinals project," according to TechCrunch, which broke the news of the seed round. "Taproot Wizards has a limited mint of 2,121 wizards, the specific number paying homage to the total supply of bitcoin: 21 million," the report said. "To date, less than 1% — 20 Taproot Wizards’ Ordinals — have been inscribed so far."

Ordinals, which enable the indexing and tracking of every satoshi (Bitcoin’s smallest unit) across the network, were introduced in January. The process called "inscription" allocates image or other data to individual satoshis. Ordinals can serve as either individual NFTs or fungible BRC-20 tokens. 

In February, The Block reported that crypto developer Udi Wertheimer and Bitcoin mining company Luxor had teamed up in a wizard-themed NFT collection. The first Taproot Wizard NFT was mined in a block at the time.

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Giving Ordinals to “wizard school” attendees

Taproot Wizards are awarding Ordinals to active community members who have participated in the outfit's “wizard school” or proven that they are Bitcoin fanatics, according to TechCrunch. Last month, Taproot Wizards held a party in Amsterdam where attendees with the best wizard costume could win one of the community's Ordinals.

The organization also said they received backing from other investors including StarkWare and Bitcoin Frontier Fund. "Zero Ordinals have been sold to investors in this round. If our investors want any, they should take a wizard shower!" Taproot Wizards said in a post to X.

Transactions on the Bitcoin network hit an all-time high in September thanks in part to the hype surrounding Ordinals.


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About Author

RT Watson is a senior reporter at The Block who covers a wide array of topics including U.S.-based companies, blockchain gaming and NFTs. Formerly covered entertainment at The Wall Street Journal, where he wrote about Disney, Netflix, Warner Bros. and the creator economy while focusing primarily on technological disruption across media. Previous to that he covered corporate, economic and political news in Brazil while at Bloomberg. RT has interviewed a diverse cast of characters including CEOs, media moguls, top influencers, politicians, blue-collar workers, drug traffickers and convicted criminals. Holds a master's degree in Digital Sociology.

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