Taproot Wizards Aims to Raise $34M+ in Highly Anticipated Signature NFT Sale

The Wizards, originally inscribed on the Bitcoin blockchain two years ago, are now being offered for sale.

Key Points:

• A Bitcoin Ordinals project is set to generate over $34 million from a collection of hand-drawn, cartoon-style wizard artwork.
• Taproot Wizards plans to auction 2,121 NFTs of its signature "magic internet JPEGs" later this month.
• These Wizards were originally inscribed onto the Bitcoin blockchain two years ago.

A Bitcoin Ordinals project aims to generate over $34 million from a collection of hand-drawn, cartoon-style wizard artwork, following a similar sale last year that raised $13 million.

Taproot Wizards plans to auction 2,121 NFTs of its signature "magic internet JPEGs" later this month. The collection pays homage to the 2013 Bitcoin meme, "magic internet money."

The Wizards were originally inscribed on the Bitcoin blockchain two years ago and are now being offered for sale.

Last year, the project sold a collection of 3,000 "Quantum Cats" to support the Bitcoin Improvement Proposal (BIP) OP_CAT. Despite facing technical issues, the collection sold out quickly, generating 300 BTC in sales.

Starting March 25, the Wizards will first be available to whitelist buyers for 0.2 BTC ($16,000). Any remaining NFTs will then be sold through a Dutch auction, with a starting price set above 0.2 BTC, to be announced closer to the auction date, according to a spokesperson.

If all 2,121 NFTs sell at the whitelist price, the project could generate approximately $34 million, based on bitcoin's current value of around $80,000.

OP_CAT was originally part of Bitcoin's code, introduced by its pseudonymous creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, but was later removed due to concerns over potential security risks, such as denial-of-service (DoS) attacks. Developers are now working to reintegrate OP_CAT, aiming to expand Bitcoin’s capabilities by enabling Ethereum-style smart contracts.

Taproot Wizards' mission is to "meme OP_CAT back into existence" through efforts like its NFT sales. Last month, the project secured $30 million in funding to develop an ecosystem of applications leveraging OP_CAT functionality.