Bitcoiner raises the orange flag on Mount Everest

The 23-year-old crypto user presented an orange flag with the Bitcoin (BTC) logo on it for observers to see at an altitude of 8,849 meters – the summit of Mount Everest.

In a May 23 post, Dadvan Yusuf announced that he had climbed the world's highest mountain on May 20. Surrounded by Sherpas and fellow climbers, he used the time at the summit to display two flags for Kurdistan and the BTC logo.

Yusuf's spokesperson told Cointelegraph, “In a funny way, other climbers asked about memecoin pepe and where the best place to buy it is the highest place on earth. The Sherpas were excited and visibly happy about the principle of Bitcoin.”

Youssef said the trip aims to highlight “the global disparity in access to financial education”. Born in Iraq and now with a business in Dubai, the Bitcoiner reported a net worth of over $300 million as of January 2022.

Tourism has become an increasing problem on Everest over the past twenty years. With the summit first seen on social media, many first-timers or inexperienced climbers arrive unprepared for the difficult conditions.

Yusuf reported that it took roughly 50 days to reach the summit, giving the Bitcoiner time to wade into thin air. In the year After Sir Edmund Hillary's first attempt in 1953, he raised more than 7,000 supporters, but more than 300 were reported to have died in the attempt.

“I fell twice at Hillary's level and almost died several times,” Yusuf told Cointelegraph. “During the trip, I lost my fingers due to frostbite. I owe a lot to the Sherpas who helped me.

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Although crypto users haven't always attempted anything like Everest, some have introduced digital assets during the climb. In the year In 2023, a mountaineer partially funded his trip to Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania with Bitcoin. In the year In 2018, three individuals placed a Ledger wallet on the top of Everest – the wallet was not visible in the videos Yusuf provided to Cointelegraph.

According to data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro, the price of Bitcoin at the time of publication was $67,879. The all-time high value cryptocurrency reached 73,738 on March 14.

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