For the past 10 years, one man has been desperately trying to access the largest landfill in his city. This is because, by mistake, he threw away a hard disk that it contained 7.500 bitcoin. At the end of 2024, the estimated value of this treasure in cryptocurrencies is of $502,167,337. The urgency of finding the hard drive is clear, but the city government has not allowed him access to the landfill.
The tragic story of James Howells it is one of the most popular on the internet, after the boom, bust and stabilization of cryptocurrencies. This bitcoin “treasure”. of Wales, United Kingdom, is bound by regulations environmental. Newport authorities do they refuse in fact of allow the research as it may have a negative environmental impact on the area surrounding the landfill.
Howells, now 39, decided to get serious about finding the 7,500 bitcoins. If its municipality he doesn’t want to give him permission to recover those 500 million dollars that belong to himhe then asked for them to come to him repaid. As reported by the magazine Wales, the man presented a legal case against Newport City Council, calling for a compensation of £495 million in damages. The trial will officially begin in December 2024.
“We could have been like Dubai if they had listened to me”
This is James Howells‘ latest attempt to get permission to search the municipal landfill. Now he dedicates himself full time to lobbying the Newport government to “The return his garbage bag”. He even has an excavation team ready to go as soon as he gets permission. According to the site The RegisterHowells has assembled a group of outside investors who will cover all costs of the research operation.
If he ever finds the hard drive, there’s a 80% chance that the content be it again intact. Howells intends to keep only 30% of the assets for itself. He promised to donate another 10% to the city of Newport and the rest will be divided with his team of investors. “I am still allocating a percentage to the board, even though they have been problematic at all times. That would be around £41m at the current rate. In the future it could be hundreds of millions. If they had listened to me in 2013, this place would now look like Las Vegas. Newport looks like Dubai. This is the kind of opportunity they missed“Howells said.
James Howells is considered one of the world’s first cryptocurrency prospectors. He was originally a software engineer who taught himself the promising world of bitcoin in 2009. He used his computer to generate almost 8,000 cryptocurrencieswhich he then accidentally lost.
Speaking of how he lost bitcoinsHowells explained that it just confused them. The hard drive was in a drawer along with other identical ones. One morning he took the component that contained the cryptocurrencies and put it in a garbage bag. Then he went to the recycling center, convinced he had thrown away the empty one. At that time (2013), the total value of the content was almost a million dollars.
This article originally appeared on Wired in Spanish.
