James Howells, who accidentally discarded a hard drive containing his Bitcoin private key in 2013, is offering to buy a landfill in an attempt to locate the drive before it closes.
A man facing a years-long battle to retrieve an estimated $800 million worth of Bitcoin is taking a drastic step. James Howells , from South Wales, is offering to purchase a landfill in Great Britain in a desperate attempt to find his discarded hard drive before it permanently closes.
Howells has pleaded with the Newport City Council to allow him to search the mountains of waste, hoping to locate the hard drive that accidentally ended up in the landfill back in 2013, as reported by the New York Times. 'Seems like a better plan for me and the city,' Howells told the newspaper, envisioning a scenario where the landfill is cleaned, potentially transformed into a park, or even repurposed as a dump site again. 'The landfill gets cleaned. I get to dig for my hard drive.'This isn't the first time Howells has attempted to recover his fortune. He previously offered to fully fund the excavation process and share 25% of any recovered Bitcoin with the Newport City Council. However, a judge dismissed his claims, stating he had 'no reasonable grounds' for bringing the case and that there was 'no realistic prospect' of success if it were to proceed to trial. Now, with the landfill facing closure, Howells' options are dwindling.The story of Howells' lost Bitcoin is a cautionary tale of misplaced digital assets. Back in 2013, while cleaning his office, a miscommunication with his then-partner led to the hard drive, containing the only copy of his 51-character private key, being tossed into the landfill. At the time, Bitcoin was just gaining traction, and Howells, a computer science analyst, had mined it as a hobby. He only realized the magnitude of his error months later, when the value of Bitcoin skyrocketed. The hard drive, a backup from an old gaming computer, held the key to access his long-forgotten Bitcoin wallet, now worth an estimated $800 million. He's been tirelessly attempting to recover his lost fortune ever since
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