James Howells, a computer engineer from Newport, Wales, UK is exploring the possibility of purchasing the landfill where he believes a hard drive containing 8,000 Bitcoins may have been buried, BBC reports.
The value of the lost cryptocurrency is estimated to be around £620 million.
In 2013, Howells claimed that his ex-girlfriend inadvertently disposed of the hard drive, which contained his Bitcoin fortune. Despite attempts to retrieve the hard drive, his legal battle to access the landfill site at Newport’s Docks Way was dismissed in court. Howells had hoped to either obtain permission to search the site or receive £495 million in compensation for his lost assets. However, a judge ruled that his case had no realistic prospects of success and cited the significant time that had passed since the hard drive was discarded.
The Newport City Council, which controls the site, plans to close the landfill in the 2025-26 financial year. The council has received planning permission to install a solar farm on the land, which is expected to provide energy for the city’s new bin lorries. Howells expressed surprise at the council’s closure plans, particularly after the authority previously argued in court that allowing him to search the landfill would be detrimental to the people of Newport.
Howells believes the hard drive is buried in an area of the landfill containing around 100,000 tonnes of waste. Given this, he has begun discussions with potential investment partners about purchasing the landfill site to facilitate a search.
In addition to pursuing this new course of action, Howells has indicated that he intends to appeal the judge’s decision to dismiss his case.
The outcome of this latest effort is yet to be seen, as the dispute over both the lost Bitcoin and access to the landfill site continues to unfold.
Bitcoin, the digital currency at the heart of Howells’ lost fortune, is a virtual currency that has gained popularity worldwide, though its acceptance as a form of payment varies from country to country.
