Taproot Wizards Unveils Quantum Cats on Bitcoin Blockchain

Taproot Wizards, a development team within the Bitcoin community, is set to launch a unique collection of NFTs, named Quantum Cats, on the Bitcoin blockchain. This collection pays homage to an early piece of code developed by Bitcoin’s creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, and showcases the potential of smart contracts and quantum resistance on the Bitcoin network.

OP_CAT, an operation code introduced in the initial release of Bitcoin by Satoshi but later disabled, stands for ‘concatenate’. Despite its deactivation, the OP_CAT Bitcoin Improvement Proposal (BIP) enables “covenants,” paving the way for the development of smart contracts and bridges on Bitcoin. This feature inspired the creation of the Quantum Cats collection, underlining the potential of making Bitcoin quantum-resistant.

The collection comprises 3,333 cat images minted using Ordinals Inscriptions, a method of embedding digital art onto the Bitcoin blockchain. The Quantum Cats, costing $66,000 to create, utilize a technique called Evolving Inscriptions. This process involves inscribing multiple versions of each cat image, which will evolve over time, reflecting the development of the OP_CAT proposal process.

The collection’s creation involved using 10MB of encrypted on-chain data, exceeding the capacity of a single Bitcoin block. The encryption ensures the future evolutions of the cats remain a surprise until revealed, yet all evolutions are committed in advance for predetermined development.

A special edition Ordinal named “Genesis Cat,” created by digital artist FAR, is being auctioned at Sotheby’s, highlighting the artistic and financial significance of the Quantum Cats collection.

Ordinals Inscriptions have emerged as a new form of digital art on the Bitcoin blockchain, with over 50 million creations minted since the protocol’s launch. These inscriptions include a variety of digital artifacts like text, images, videos, and video games.

In a move acknowledging Bitcoin’s foundational role in the crypto world, the popular Solana wallet Phantom has added support for Bitcoin, Ordinals, and BRC-20 tokens, indicating a broader acceptance and integration of Bitcoin-based digital art and applications.

Taproot Wizards recently secured $7.5 million in funding, led by Standard Crypto, with participation from StarkWare and others. The team’s commitment to a non-custodial, scalable future for Bitcoin is embodied in the Quantum Cats collection and their innovative use of the OP_CAT code.

The Quantum Cats collection by Taproot Wizards represents a significant step in harnessing the untapped potential of Bitcoin’s blockchain for artistic and technological innovation. The use of OP_CAT and the integration of evolving inscriptions mark a new chapter in the evolution of digital art and smart contracts within the Bitcoin ecosystem.