Sherpa feared dead in cryptocurrency mountaineering stunt on Everest

Social networking site ASKfm sponsored an expedition to bury $50,000 worth of cryptocurrency on a mountain peak

Light illuminates Mount Everest during sunset (REUTERS/Navesh Chitrakar)

An expedition to bury cryptocurrency on top of Mount Everest has resulted in a sherpa guide’s death.

Seeking to get in on the burgeoning cryptocurrency marketplace, the social networking company ASKfm organised an expedition in which a team of professional alpinists left a cache of $50,000 (£37,314) worth of crypto “tokens” at one of the highest points in the world.

“One Ledger wallet is officially up there for the bravest to grab”, the company said in a Medium post trumpeting the successful journey.

But after reports in multiple publications suggested that one of the sherpas aiding the mountaineers died en route, ASKfm released a statement confirming that “Sherpa Lam Babu is missing and presumed dead”, citing Nepalese authorities and a contractor called Seven Summit Treks that the expedition enlisted.

After the mountaineering team reached the summit of Mt Everest, ASKfm said, the climbers swiftly descended in an effort to outrun worsening weather - leaving behind their three sherpa guides.

“Two of the Sherpas made it to camp 4 from the summit lagging behind the mountaineers, however, the news of missing Sherpa was not discovered until the next morning”, ASKfm said. “The two remaining Sherpas on this leg of the expedition were the last people to see the Sherpa that subsequently went missing”.

Seven Summit Treks did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In an interview with Finance Magnates magazine, ASKfm CEO Maxim Tsaryk said his company was “saddened and horrified by the outcome”.

“We can argue about if this was a good marketing ploy, but we can’t argue about the fact that anyone’s life being taken is horrible,” Mr Tsaryk said, adding that “from a PR view, this event progressed in the wrong direction, but more importantly, this is tragic and horrifying”.

Drawing a parallel with companies like RedBull and GoPro that sponsor extreme sports, Mr Tsaryk argued that his company was embracing a common publicity model. And he condemned media outlets for “took advantage of this unfortunate event to mock us”, referencing widespread scepticism about cryptocurrency.

“The death of a person is a tragedy and should not be speculated on to gain readership or create news”, he said, going on to quote former South African anti-apartheid leader and president Nelson Mandela.