Newport Man Wants Landfill to Reclaim 8,000 BTC

James Howells, a computer engineer from Newport, is trying to buy a landfill site in the same city to recover a hard drive containing 8,000 BTC. The device was accidentally disposed of at the site.

According to Howells, his Bitcoin treasure was thrown away by his ex-girlfriend, who mistook the hard drive for a useless object.

James Howells' journey to save his Bitcoins

The engineer has spent the last 12 years trying to get a legal permit to search the area located on Docks Way. According to him, his Bitcoins are buried there. Howells said the landfill is expected to close between 2025 and 2026.

"The fact that the city council is planning to close the landfill so soon is a surprise, especially as they had told the High Court that closing it to allow me to search would have a huge negative impact on the people of Newport, while at the same time they were planning to close it anyway."

Bitcoin: Newport man wants to buy tip where he lost £620m fortune

James Howells wants to search a landfill site where he lost 8,000 bitcoins now worth about £620m.

BBC News

The landfill site contains over 1.5 million tonnes of waste. James claims that his hard drive is buried in an area of about 100,000 tonnes. With the news of the closure, he sees an opportunity to buy the land. He has discussed this possibility with his financial partners and believes it is feasible.

"I would potentially be interested in buying the landfill."

In addition to this, James has embarked on a legal battle, demanding £495 million in compensation or permission to excavate the landfill.

Faced with this claim, the city council contested the claim and asked the High Court to dismiss the case. Justice Keyser KC ruled against Howells, saying the case had no realistic prospects.

In addition to buying the land, James is planning an appeal before Justice KC to overturn the decision. He wrote on X (formerly Twitter):

"I lost, they won. I may appeal. Let's see what happens."

Since 2013, cryptocurrencies have seen exponential growth. According to some reports, Bitcoin is set to rise in the coming months. At current market rates, James's 8,000 Bitcoins are worth around £630 million ($782 million).

Following this story, a user on X commented:

"James Howells is destined to live a nightmare that repeats itself every day: watching the value of his wallet grow exponentially without ever being able to recover. A fortune that could have been his, but was buried forever because of a fatal mistake."

In conclusion, James is still fighting for his treasure. Whether the purchase of the dump will change his fate remains to be seen.