Man who chucked $750 million of bitcoin into a dump now wants to buy the whole dump
In 2013, a British IT specialist James Howells somehow conspired to throw a hard drive containing 7,500 bitcoin into a municipal dump. Back then it was worth less than $1 million. Now that same bitcoin stash is worth about $750 million and Howells wants to buy the entire landfill site.
Obviously, the idea is to recover the drive. Perhaps equally obviously, Howells himself doesn't have the resources to buy the landfill site from the local government council in Newport, Wales, who currently own it.
Howells says he, «would potentially be interested in purchasing the landfill site ‘as is’ and have discussed this option with investment partners and it is something that is very much on the table.”
It was in November of 2013 that Howells realised his mistake made earlier that summer. Ever since, he's been battling to be given access to the landfill site to search for the drive.
Howells escalated his efforts to recover the drive in 2023, threatening to sue the council for half a billion dollars in damages. That was followed last year by an attempt force a judicial review of council's decision to deny access to the site.
Late last year at a preliminary court hearing, Howells' lawyers argued that the location of the drive had been narrowed down so a small section of the site and recovering it would not require widespread excavation.
However, Newport council lawyers said Howells had no legal claim and that, „anything that goes into the landfill goes into the council’s ownership.” Moreover, the council claims that, “excavation is not possible under our environmental permit and that work of that nature would have a huge negative environmental impact on the surrounding area.»
Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team.
In the event, the judge sided with the council and Howells' claim was dismissed. But with so much money potentially at stake, perhaps unsurprisingly Howells isn't giving up.
Notably, Howells' story seems to
Read more on pcgamer.com
