A hard drive owner who misplaced his massive trove of Bitcoin (BTC) in a UK landfill years ago is now considering purchasing the dumping ground as a means of recovering his funds.
According to a new report by CNN, James Howells – a Welsh man who lost his Bitcoin stash worth a staggering $800 million after accidentally throwing away his storage wallet – is considering acquiring the landfill after the UK government rejected his bid to search it.
Previous reports indicate that in 2013, Howells threw away the hard drive in a black plastic trash bag thinking it was blank. However, the hard drive not only contained $9 million worth of BTC at the time, it also had a record of his private keys, which are needed to access the crypto wallet.
In 2021, Howells offered the Newport City Council $70 million for permission to dig up the site, but was rejected. In January of this year, a judge dismissed his attempts to force the council to allow him to comb through the area due to environmental concerns.
As stated by the judge in his ruling, according to CNN,
“The position is no different in principle from what it would be if the record of the private key had been written on a piece of paper that had been put into the landfill.”
Earlier this month, a Newport City Spokesperson said that the landfill is set to close in the 2025-2026 fiscal year.
“The landfill has been in exploitation since the early 2000s and is coming to the end of its life, therefore the council is working on a planned closure and capping of the site over the next two years.”
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