Man who lost $750 million Bitcoin in landfill now wants to buy the site

[midian182]

In brief: James Howells, the man who has spent more than a decade trying to recover a hard drive containing more than $750 million worth of Bitcoin from a landfill, is not giving up on his quest for fortune. After a judge threw out his request to dig at the site last month, Howells is now considering buying the facility, which is due to be closed.

Howells sued the city of Newport, Wales, in October 2024 for the right to search the landfill or pay him £495 million ($607 million) in compensation. He claimed in court that he has a "finely tuned plan" to recover the component, and that its position has been narrowed down to a small area.

Unfortunately for the computer engineer, a High Court judge dismissed the case in January, saying there were no "reasonable grounds" for bringing the case and "no realistic prospect" of succeeding at a full trial. Howells said he wants to appeal the decision.

Since then, Newport council has announced plans to close and cap the site in the 2025-26 financial year. It has secured planning permission to turn part of the land into a solar farm, which is expected to power the council's new garbage trucks.

Howells said that "The council planning on closing the landfill so soon is quite a surprise, especially since it claimed at the High Court that closing the landfill to allow me to search would have a huge detrimental impact on the people of Newport, whilst at the same time they were planning to close the landfill anyway."

Howells went on to say that he expected the landfill to be closed in the future as it's 80% to 90% full. He added that if Newport city council was willing, he would be interested in purchasing the land "as is." Howells added that he has discussed the option with investment partners and a potential bid is "very much on the table."

The landfill holds more than 1.4 million tons of waste. Howells previously claimed to have narrowed the drive's location down to a section containing 100,000 tons. He believes the Bitcoin on the drive will be worth £1 billion ($1.2 billion) next year.

In 2013, Howells had two 2.5-inch hard drives stored in a drawer, one of which he intended to get rid of and another that had a digital wallet with 7,500 – 8,000 Bitcoin on it. He put the drive containing the Bitcoin in a black trash bag during an office sort-out and left it in the hall of his house. His partner assumed it was there to be thrown away, so she took the bag to the local landfill, where it's been ever since.

When asked why he doesn't just give up on his quest, especially as the data on the drive could be inaccessible after more than a decade of sitting under a pile of rotting garbage, Howells said he could "spend the rest of my life working nine to five and thinking about [the fortune] every day," so he might as well keep trying to recover it.

Permalink to story:

Man who lost $750 million Bitcoin in landfill now wants to buy the site

 

[Puiu]

That drive is loooong dead. Zero chances of recovering data off of it.

 

[Ashford]

Opportunity doesn't call often, and what's worse is sometimes it's your demise making a prank call.

I wish him peace.

 

[The Talking Tech]

That guy is like Elon Musk disregarding the risks others would be potentially exposed to for his own benefit.

 

[Str8Shot]

What if someone told him, that Bitcoin is worth absolutely zero. He’s about to become a casualty of this charade. Bitcoin, to some, has become some sort of a “god,” demonic no less with the stupid “laser eyes” looks straight out of hell.

 

[jwdR311]

Heh, a pearl of great price!

 

[WhiteLeaff]

It's easier for the FBI to suddenly become competent and capture infamous crypto thieves like Paul Vernon who have billions in crypto in their possession than for this HDD to be recovered.

 

[sak500]

If the cold the rain the heat didn't damage it then his shovel hitting it will definitely

 

[Stingy McDuck]

I have had drives stored in way better conditions, and they died on me. And this guy still hopes his will still be functional. That's what desperation looks like.

 

[arrowflash]

I think he should have given up long ago, but I really hope he succeeds.

I just don't understand why he wanted to get rid of a perfectly functioning hard drive, especially in 2013 when SSDs were still pretty small and didn't provide good value yet. First world problems I guess

 

[GodisanAtheist]

You know, thanks to this guy, I can kind of make peace with every financial regret I have because I've never flubbed so bad that "never have to work again" money was on the line.

Those Nvidia shares I sold when they were $0.50 a pop sure would have been nice to have today, but they would have amounted to extra padding on the retirement fund at best, not the kind of life changing anchor weighing on this man for the rest of his life.

 

[Megalomaniac]

That's hilarious.

 

[Ashford]

I think he should have given up long ago, but I really hope he succeeds.

I just don't understand why he wanted to get rid of a perfectly functioning hard drive, especially in 2013 when SSDs were still pretty small and didn't provide good value yet. First world problems I guess

It was his very, very Ex-GF who threw it out.

 

[arrowflash]

It was his very, very Ex-GF who threw it out.

I know, her mistake was throwing out the wrong HDD, he had two and intended to throw away one of them right away. Apparently it wasn't defective and the only reason he wasn't going to throw out the other one yet was because he intended to backup his bitcoin wallet first.

 

[sheffieldyorky]

As a retired Electro-Mechanical Engineer [ H N D ] the chances of him recovering the stored data on this drive are less than 0.01%, I will tell you why.
This hard drive will have been subjected to extreme cold, rain, frost, snow etc. and they are just mild conditions.
Now we have the location, as we all know landfills not only contain people's toxic rubbish but there are various other substances, I.e. illegally disposed of vehicle batteries which then leak out their contents, various other toxic illegally disposed of chemicals and the compacting bulldozers that relentlessly trample the landfill.
Finally, then there are the unknown magnetic influences present in the landfill.
Good luck that you don't hit it with your excavator while trying to locate it.

 

[Dustyn]

This guy needs to give it up already. Time to move on with life. You were careless and you ****ed up. Let it go.

 

[Nobina]

He is desperate but for $750m I would be too.

 

[poohbear]

This guy needs to take a course on Mindfulness, and just learn to accept and let go. Living in the past is a
terrible place to be, and in the end the HDD w/ bitcoins on it only exists in his head, not the landfill.

 

[BuckarooBonzaii]

If he does buy the land and finds the drive, at some point the investors will want their money.

 

[toooooot]

As a retired Electro-Mechanical Engineer [ H N D ] the chances of him recovering the stored data on this drive are less than 0.01%, I will tell you why.
This hard drive will have been subjected to extreme cold, rain, frost, snow etc. and they are just mild conditions.
Now we have the location, as we all know landfills not only contain people's toxic rubbish but there are various other substances, I.e. illegally disposed of vehicle batteries which then leak out their contents, various other toxic illegally disposed of chemicals and the compacting bulldozers that relentlessly trample the landfill.
Finally, then there are the unknown magnetic influences present in the landfill.
Good luck that you don't hit it with your excavator while trying to locate it.

I read what they can do to recover bits from various medium from everything ranging from tapes to SSDs.
If it is about 750 millions, they will find a way to get it back, even if all they have is those metal plates.
The science has gone so far in this area that they can do almost impossible.
If they get that drive, they will get those coin bits back.

 

[Thrackerzod]

This guy is going to end up homeless. Give it up, it's gone. Greed is going to ruin you.

 

[eldakka]

That drive is loooong dead. Zero chances of recovering data off of it.

Not necessarily.

Sure, the drive may be 'dead', the controller board inoperable due to contamination, rust or whatnot. But if the platters are intact, then they can be transplanted to a new drive. That'll cost, $10k, $15k, $20k, but there are data recovery companies out there that do this sort of thing for a pretty penny. Even if the platters can't be transplanted as-is, there are other methods going on all the way down to electron-microscopy. It all depends on how much money you are willing to spend - and lose in case they can't get it in the end. And considering there is potentially several hundred million dollars value in the data, maybe someone is willing to stump up the money to try , but I'm not one of them

 

[FaTaL]

 

[Win7user]

If it's in a plastic black bag, the contents should be fine including that hard drive, barring any breaches in the bag. I feel for the guy, I hope he gets the chance to end up purchasing the land, and indeed finds it. Good, luck buddy...

 

[Win7user]

Not necessarily.

Sure, the drive may be 'dead', the controller board inoperable due to contamination, rust or whatnot. But if the platters are intact, then they can be transplanted to a new drive. That'll cost, $10k, $15k, $20k, but there are data recovery companies out there that do this sort of thing for a pretty penny. Even if the platters can't be transplanted as-is, there are other methods going on all the way down to electron-microscopy. It all depends on how much money you are willing to spend - and lose in case they can't get it in the end. And considering there is potentially several hundred million dollars value in the data, maybe someone is willing to stump up the money to try , but I'm not one of them

$20k isn't too much, in recovering $1B