An IMGW News Report
James Howells, an IT engineer from Newport, Wales, UK, is suing Newport City Council for £495 million after discarding a hard drive in 2013 containing 8,000 Bitcoins, now worth approximately £500 million. The drive is believed to be buried in a local landfill. Despite repeated requests to excavate the site, the council has denied permission, citing environmental concerns and potential harm to the surrounding area.
In 2013, Mr Howells accidentally binned a device containing 8,000 Bitcoins, acquired in the cryptocurrency’s early days. Once worth around £4m, the digital treasure’s value has surged alongside Bitcoin’s recent climb to a record $80,000 (£62,000) per unit, following Donald Trump’s US election victory.
The hard drive, believed to be buried within Newport’s Docksway landfill, was mistakenly thrown away by Mr Howells’ partner during a household clear-out. Efforts to recover it have been consistently thwarted by Newport City Council, which cites environmental concerns and licencing restrictions as reasons to deny excavation.
Mr Howells has proposed lucrative offers to the council, including an initial 25% share of the Bitcoin’s value, reduced to 10% in recent negotiations, to fund community projects. Last month, frustrated by the council’s intransigence, he filed a £495m lawsuit, claiming the council is withholding his property.
“They’re refusing to let me search for it,” he told reporters. “This is my property, and its value could exceed £1bn by next year.”
Mr Howells asserts that he has identified the likely location of the hard drive, narrowing it to a 100,000-tonne section of the 1.4m-tonne landfill. However, Newport City Council remains unmoved.
“Mr Howells has brought a civil claim for a sum in the region of £0.5bn,” said a council spokesperson. “The claim has no merit, and the council is vigorously resisting it.”
As Bitcoin’s price continues to soar, the dispute has drawn widespread attention, with Mr Howells vowing to pursue the matter to its conclusion. “I’m still open to an amicable resolution,” he said. “But they need to stop delaying and start talking.”
For now, the hard drive remains buried—its astronomical worth locked beneath tonnes of waste, a modern-day treasure lost to the rubbish heap.
