One of the most influential voices in “Bitcoin Season II,” Udi Wertheimer is one of the most controversial and, perhaps, most misunderstood figures in the Bitcoin community broadly. A self-identified “survivor” of Bitcoin maximalism, Udi’s critiques of Bitcoin-only tribalism – and the suppression of nuanced discussion that arises as a result – made him the perfect spokesperson for post-Ordinals Bitcoiners looking for someone to represent their “Bitcoin-first” rather than “Bitcoin-only” views.

Inspired by Ordinals, Udi and partner @ercwl founded @TaprootWizards – one of the most unique and enigmatic companies in Bitcoin – with a broad mandate to “onboard crypto users to Bitcoin… by any means necessary.”

From launching two of the most popular Ordinals collections in the world – to campaigning for progressive Bitcoin opcodes (i.e. CAT) – Udi and the Wizards relentlessly orange pill the most maxi-neglected low-hanging fruit… non-Bitcoin crypto users.

As always, you can view this episode on YouTube or Spotify via the linktree in my bio.

This episode is powered by Best In Slot (@bestinslotxyz), the leading API for Ordinals and BRC20 data aggregation and indexing—as well as Citrea (@citrea_xyz), a leading 'Bitcoin Rollup' technology and core contributor to the BitVM alliance.

Timestamps:

00:20 Udi: The Bitcoin Maxi “Cult Survivor”

03:10 Maxis cheering on Gary Gensler

06:30 Ordinals: Tokens arriving on Bitcoin

08:55 How NFTs helped encourage Bitcoin self-custody

11:40 Making Bitcoin cool again for crypto people

13:55 Why did Udi start the Taproot Wizards company?

16:00 The Wizards’ pitch to investors

18:50 “Successful fundraising” is an oxymoron

20:40 Why did Ryan Dell join the Wizards?

24:00 Taproot Wizards is not strictly an “L2” company

27:00 What went into the Taproot Wizards NFT launch

29:30 The NFT auction and inspiring Solana user participation

32:50 The importance of launching during the bear market

34:30 Every active crypto trader has Phantom wallet

37:10 Cultural differences between Bitcoin, crypto and different wallet users

40:45 Why Udi was impressed by Odin.fun

43:30 Udi is NOT a Runes fan

45:40 Don't be too defeatist about Runes’ failure

47:40 Championing OP_CAT and the Bitcoin Core power vacuum

49:40 Why Bitcoin Core has “failed”

51:35 Bitcoin Core’s weakness around OP-Return drama

55:00 How will Bitcoin devs get things done?

57:40 Udi’s OP_CAT political lobbying effort

01:00:20 Why Udi thinks CTV is unlikely to pass

01:03:40 Robin Linus wanted OP_CAT: What happened?

01:05:30 Were Taproot Wizards a blessing or a curse for OP_CAT?