Bitcoiner raises the orange flag on Mount Everest

After weeks of climbing and acclimating to the altitude, Dadvan Yousuf removed the Bitcoin flag from his bag to show it off at the top of the world.

A 23-year-old crypto user has presented an orange flag with the Bitcoin (BTC) logo for observers to see at an elevation of 8,849 meters — the summit of Mount Everest.

In a May 23 X post, Dadvan Yousuf announced he had climbed the highest mountain in the world, reaching the summit on May 20. Surrounded by sherpas and fellow climbers, he used his time at the summit to show off two flags: for Kurdistan and the BTC logo.

“Funnily enough, other climbers asked about the memecoin pepe and where the best place to buy it was on the highest place on earth,” A spokesperson for Yousuf told Cointelegraph. “The sherpas were enthusiastic about the principle of Bitcoin and were visibly happy.”

Yousuf said the expedition was intended to highlight the “global disparity in access to financial education.” Born in Iraq and with a business now based in Dubai, the Bitcoiner’s reported net worth was more than $300 million as of January 2022.

Overtourism has become an increasing problem on Everest in the last twenty years. With the summit being featured on social media for the first time, many first-timers or inexperienced climbers come unprepared for the harsh conditions.

Yousuf reported it took roughly 50 days to reach the summit, giving the Bitcoiner time to acclimate to the thinner air. Though more than 7,000 climbers have scaled the summit since Sir Edmund Hillary first did in 1953, more than 300 have been reported dead in the attempt.

“I fell down the Hillary step twice and almost died several times,” Yousuf told Cointelegraph. “During the expedition I almost lost my fingers due to frostbite. I owe a lot to my sherpas who helped me.”

Related: Bitcoin price at $150K in 2024 is ‘base case’ — Tom Lee

Though crypto users have not always attempted anything as high as Everest, some have promoted digital assets during climbs. In 2023, a climber financed his trip to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania partly with Bitcoin as part of efforts to raise awareness for financial literacy. In 2018, three individuals placed a Ledger wallet at the summit of Everest — the wallet was not visible in the videos Yousuf provided to Cointelegraph.

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