Rijndael is the CTO of Taproot Wizards – a group of bitcoiners who want to make Bitcoin magical. In this interview, he talks about why OP_CAT matters and what kind of features we should expect to see in Bitcoin once a covenant soft fork gets activated.

Taproot Wizards and Bitcoin Magic (00:01:53)

Memes as Tools for Bitcoin Advancement (00:03:20)

Discussion on Taproot Wizards' Intentions (00:03:47)

Rijndael's Background and Work (00:06:38)

Discussion on BitKey Hardware Wallet (00:09:12)

Statechains and Drivechains (00:20:06)

Layer Two Labs and Paul Sztorc’s Message (00:26:03)

Taproot Wizards Funding Accusations (00:28:16)

Cryptography and Scaling (00:31:53)

Stark Proofs and Scalability (00:33:06)

Layer Two Solutions (00:36:33)

Bitcoin's Evolution (00:38:51)

Lightning Network (00:42:21)

Is Stacks a Layer Two? (00:47:39)

Future of Liquid and Lightning (00:49:41)

Lightning Network and Liquid (00:50:35)

Ordinals and Flywheel Effect (00:52:13)

Non-Custodial Lending and Trading (00:53:17)

Covenant Proposals and Bitcoin Upgrades (00:57:54)

CAT Opcode and Bitcoin Development (00:59:32)

OP_CAT Activation and Community Perception (01:03:25)

Ocean Mining and Network Control (01:09:25)

Bitcoin Purifier and Transaction Rejection (01:12:55)

Bitcoin Development and Narrative Control (01:15:36)

Casey and Runes (01:16:19)

Simplicity and Protocol Design (01:17:19)

User-Friendly Implementation of Runes (01:20:11)

Use Cases and Challenges of Ordinals (01:22:34)

Great Script Restoration and Controversy (01:24:26)

Ordinal Inscriptions and Scarcity (01:27:21)

Future Projects and Layer Twos (01:30:25)

Taproot Wizards' Presence and Conference Participation (01:36:55)

Addressing Critics of Taproot and SegWit (01:38:04)

Data Embedding in Bitcoin Transactions (01:38:42)

The Cat Chain vs. Dog Chain (01:41:10)

Setting Up a Live Stream (01:43:00)

Following Taproot Wizards on Twitter (01:44:25) I

International Travel and Visa Issues (01:45:07)

“Reagan Dial” (01:46:20)

Final Remarks and Invitation to Follow Taproot Wizards (01:46:48)