This Man Lost $672 Million Worth of Bitcoin in a Landfill, Fighting in Court!

Updated

March 19, 2025

Gambar This Man Lost $672 Million Worth of Bitcoin in a Landfill, Fighting in Court!

Jakarta, Pintu News – James Howells, a British IT professional, has been struggling for a decade to retrieve a hard drive that contained 8,000 Bitcoin and was accidentally wasted.

The story begins in 2013, when Howells accidentally discarded the hard drive from his laptop that contained the private key to access his Bitcoin (BTC). Back then, Bitcoin (BTC) was worth only about $100 per coin, but it has now soared to $83,969.10 per coin as of March 2025.

Costly Mistake: Millions of Dollars Worth of Bitcoin Wasted

In 2013, James Howells accidentally dumped a hard drive containing 8,000 Bitcoin (BTC) into the Docksway Landfill in Newport, Wales. At the time, the total value of Bitcoin (BTC) on the hard drive was around $800,000, an amount that now seems minuscule compared to its current value of hundreds of millions of dollars.

Howells didn’t realize that the value of Bitcoin (BTC) would increase dramatically in the next few years. When he realized his mistake, Howells tried to get permission from the Newport City Council to excavate the landfill to retrieve the hard drive. He even offered to finance the excavation operation and give a portion of the recovered Bitcoin (BTC) to the city council and the local community. However, his requests were always denied due to environmental and legal reasons.

Also Read: Bitcoin Miner Sales Still High, On-Chain Data Reveals Bearish Trend (3/19/25)

Legal battles and court hurdles

Appeal request to the Royal Court of Appeal: refused

The Great British Injustice System strikes again…

The state always protects the state.

Next stop: ECHR pic.twitter.com/KFYRSbsEPo
— James Howells (@howelzy) March 14, 2025

After several rejections, Howells did not give up. In December 2024, he filed a lawsuit against the city council, demanding £495 million in damages. Howells argued that he should have the right to search for his lost digital property. However, in January 2025, Judge Keyser KC ruled that Howells’ case had no realistic prospect of success.

The court affirmed the council’s position, stating that any items disposed of in the landfill legally belonged to the council. This decision further reinforced the council’s decision to prevent the excavation, leaving Howells with few legal options to proceed.

Last Resort: Next Steps for Howells

Despite facing defeat in court, Howells is not giving up. He plans to take his case to the European Court of Human Rights, arguing that Newport City Council’s refusal violates his property rights. This could be his last chance to get legal permission to dig up lost Bitcoin (BTC).

The city council has announced plans to close the landfill by 2026 and develop a solar farm on the site. Howells stated that if legal action fails, he may try to buy the landfill to take control of the search operation. However, it is still uncertain whether the hard drive can still be found after more than a decade of being buried.

Conclusion

The story of James Howells serves as a reminder of the importance of caution when storing digital assets like Bitcoin (BTC). Although the outlook seems bleak, Howells’ determination to recover what was once his shows how valuable these digital assets are in the modern era.

Also Read: Ethereum (ETH) has the potential to surge sharply, analysts reveal similarities with 2020 trends

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*Disclaimer

This content aims to enrich readers’ information. Pintu collects this information from various relevant sources and is not influenced by outside parties. Note that an asset’s past performance does not determine its projected future performance. Trading crypto carries high risk and volatility, always do your own research and use cold hard cash before investing. All activities of buying and selling Bitcoin and other crypto asset investments are the responsibility of the reader.