A decade-long search for a lost hard drive holding
8,000 Bitcoin has taken a new turn. James Howells, a UK man who accidentally
discarded the drive in 2013, is now considering purchasing the landfill where
it was dumped, the BBC reported.
His legal battle to gain access to the site failed,
but he isn’t giving up on recovering his fortune, now worth $784 million. Howells
claims his ex-girlfriend mistakenly threw out the hard drive, which ended up in
Newport’s Docks Way landfill.
Landfill Purchase After Legal Defeat
Over the years, he repeatedly asked Newport Council
for permission to conduct a search but was largely ignored. With Bitcoin’s
value surging, his determination to retrieve the lost cryptocurrency has only
grown stronger.
Earlier this year, Howells attempted to sue Newport
Council for $646 million, the peak valuation of the bitcoin in early 2024, arguing
that their refusal to let him excavate the site had cost him a fortune.
However, a judge dismissed his case in January.
Facing legal roadblocks, he has now turned to
investors with the idea of purchasing the landfill outright. Even if Howells
manages to secure funding, time is not on his side.
⚡️ LATEST: Man in Legal Fight to Recover $773M in Bitcoin from Landfill.James Howell is trying to locate his 8,000 $BTC mistakenly disposed of in a landfill, aiming to retrieve the hard drive while complying with legal and environmental regulations. pic.twitter.com/eDyVAhym8e
— Cointelegraph (@Cointelegraph) December 26, 2024
Final Hope for Lost Bitcoins
The council plans to shut down the landfill in the
coming financial year and has already received approval to develop a solar
power farm on the land. This could make any future excavation attempts even
more challenging.
Whether he succeeds in reclaiming his lost fortune or not, his
decade-long pursuit of 8,000 Bitcoins remains one of the most intriguing lost
treasure stories of the crypto era.
Searching through the landfill is a monumental task.
According to the BBC, the landfill holds more than 1.4 million tonnes of waste,
and Howells estimates the hard drive is buried within 100,000 tonnes of it.
This article was written by Jared Kirui at www.financemagnates.com.
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