Sharp-eyed summiters atop Mount Everest may have a chance to earn back some of the money it cost them to get there. A team of Ukrainian climbers claims to have just left $50,000 in cryptocurrency buried in the snow on top. ExWeb is verifying the credibility of these claims, but in the meantime, the story appears to be this:
Taras Pozdnii, Roman Horodechnyyand, Dmytro Semerenko and Iryna Galay were climbing with Seven Summits Treks and reached the top on 14 May via the South Col. There, as part of a publicity stunt for a new cryptocurrency, they allegedly buried 500,000 ASKT tokens, roughly US$50,000.
On their descent, they called for help when two of the team became stuck at 7,000m without oxygen. Pozdnii suffered snow blindness and frostbite. The two stricken climbers were rescued by helicopter and are now recovering in Kathmandu.
Taras Pozdnii in hospital in Kathmandu. Photo: Taras Pozdnii
Wrote Pozdnii from the hospital: “My eyes are coming back… but I see a little blurry. Don’t worry,” he added, “it’ll heal quickly.” Another member of the team said that “the snow was crazy”.
As well as leaving $50,000 worth of cryptocurrency on the summit, ASKfm, the social media firm behind the stunt, is raffling another US$50,000 in tokens as part of a giveaway.
Pozdnii and an unknown Sherpa on the summit. Photo: Taras Pozdnii
