James Howells, an IT specialist from Newport, Wales, has been dealt a blow in his endeavour to retrieve a hard drive gorged with Bitcoin now worth over $770 million. The hardware, accidentally discarded in 2009 and now languishing in a landfill, has been a thorny issue between Howells and the Newport City Council, which continues to refuse him access due to environmental regulatory restrictions.
The most recent chapter in this ongoing saga unfolded when Judge Keyser, the Circuit Commercial Judge for Wales, dismissed Howells’ standing legal attempt to enter the landfill and recover his valuable lost tech. As reported by the BBC on January 9th, the Judge concluded the case held “no realistic prospect” of success in a full trial. Interestingly, the public attention around Howells’ case surged in 2024, amidst Bitcoin’s monumental surge to $100,000, resulting in over 130% in annual returns.
Howells, one of the first adopters of Bitcoin, had successfully mined 8,000 BTC in 2009 when the cost of doing so was virtually negligible. The misfortune struck in 2013 when he accidentally discarded the drive containing the digital coins, at a time when Bitcoin was worth a mere $13. Since then, Bitcoin’s value has spiked by over 704,000x, data from Cointelegraph show.
Despite a protracted ten-year battle, the Newport City Council has consistently shut the door on Howells’ requests to scour the landfill. The local authority has cited concerns over the significant negative environmental impact of such an operation on the surrounding area, triggering accusations from Howells that the council itself is in violation of environmental laws. His claim is backed by “100 independently verified pieces of evidence,” which he alleges prove the council is leaching harmful substances into the local environment.