Vail Valley Crypto Club hosts NFT scavenger hunt

This Thursday, the Vail Valley Crypto Club is hosting its first annual Ski & Ride NFT Scavenger Hunt in Vail Village and on Vail Mountain.

The Vail Valley Crypto Club was founded by Dylan Bradley in Sept. 2021 as a social group where both seasoned cryptocurrency enthusiasts and newcomers to the space can come together to learn and talk about developments in the crypto world.

Now half a year old, Bradley said that over 70 people have attended at least one of the monthly meetings, and he encourages anyone who is interested in the subject to join the club.

“We have people that have all different levels of experience in crypto and all different exposures,” Bradley said. “I just want to provide an educational platform for people interested in crypto and people who want to connect in the space.”

Bradley has been brainstorming ways to get more people involved and make cryptocurrency and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) accessible to more community members. He said that he has been creating free NFTs to commemorate Vail Valley Crypto Club meetings, and he came across a unique idea — an NFT scavenger hunt.

“I had seen that the platform that I’m creating these NFTs on did a scavenger hunt in New York City a while back, and I was like ‘that sounds cool’,” Bradley said. “I was thinking of events to do for March, and I figured I would do a ski and ride NFT scavenger hunt.”

To create the scavenger hunt, Bradley is placing code words in different locations around Vail Mountain and the village. Participants are asked to download two apps — Metamask and POAP — to get set up for the hunt. Once set up on the apps, participants will search for the hidden code words, which can be entered into the apps to unlock over 10 free NFTs that Bradley created specially for this event. Each NFT that is found will then be used as a ticket in a raffle at the end of the day.

Bradley said that the activity will help people who have no familiarity with NFTs or digital wallets get an understanding of how the space works, while also building community.

“That’s the goal — to educate them while having fun,” Bradley said. “You don’t have to be an expert in the space or anything like that. You just have to be curious and be willing to download a couple applications and then just go and try it out.”

Participants can register at vailcrypto.world, where they will find instructions for getting set up on the two respective apps. The scavenger hunt begins at the 10th Mountain Division Soldier Monument in Vail Village at 8:30 a.m. and goes until lifts close at 3:30 p.m. At the end of the day, participants are invited to meet at 10th Mountain Whiskey tasting room in Vail Village for après ski and a raffle. Registration for the scavenger hunt costs $25 per person.

Bradley hopes that the event will introduce more people to the club, and has plans to expand the presence of cryptocurrency in the Vail Valley.

“Phase one was just trying to get the club established, get people coming, and then phase two is going to be getting more businesses involved, as well as more notoriety for the club and more integration into the local community,” Bradley said. “Moving forward, I’d like to start reaching out to more speakers and businesses that are involved in the space. Anyone who is reading this who wants to come out to speak and get involved in what we’re doing, I’d love to have them.”

For more information about the Vail Valley Crypto Club and upcoming meetings, visit vailcrypto.world or follow the Vail Valley Crypto Club Facebook page.