James Howells, the British man known for losing a hard drive containing 8,000 Bitcoin at a landfill in Newport over a decade ago, has filed a lawsuit against the city for not being allowed to 'dig through the trash for coins.' After years of trying to get the city to allow him to excavate the landfill to recover the hard drive containing his 'treasure,' this 36-year-old man has shifted his strategy and is now suing the Newport city council for compensation.

The Bitcoin Treasure Thrown in the Trash

The hard drive disaster occurred after a misunderstanding between Howells and his wife. The British engineer became acquainted with Bitcoin and began 'mining' cryptocurrency in 2009. In the early stages, he virtually lost nothing except electricity costs for the laptop running the algorithms. James Howells stored the 8,000 BTC he mined in a wallet.

Each cryptocurrency wallet address will have a private key. It works like a PIN for a bank card. The only difference is that a PIN can be recovered if forgotten, but a private key is unique, known only to the owner, and cannot be changed. A private key is usually a random string of letters and numbers. They are often complex and hard to remember, so many people choose to store them on storage devices like hard drives.

Howells is no exception; he also stored the private key of his 8,000 BTC wallet on a hard drive approximately 2.5 inches in size. In August 2013, while cleaning up his home, the IT engineer found two identical hard drives, one containing the private key, and the other one was empty.

In his court filing, Howells stated that he accidentally threw the hard drive containing the Bitcoin treasure into the trash, and his wife took the trash bag to the collection point. At that time, 8,000 BTC was worth about 1 million pounds. But just three months later, the price of Bitcoin increased ninefold.

In November 2013, Howells and his team of lawyers began meeting with representatives of the city council, requesting to excavate the landfill to find the hard drive containing information about 8,000 Bitcoin. However, since then, his requests have been continuously denied.

For over a decade, Howells has remained undeterred in his pursuit of permission to excavate the landfill to recover the treasure of his life. He has quit his job and reached an agreement with investors to share 30% of the profits if the hard drive is found. The rest he will distribute to supporters who have helped him, and a portion will go towards data recovery costs.

Howells revealed that he had recruited a former city landfill director into his team. The 36-year-old man believes that 80% of the hard drive data can be recovered. Meanwhile, if permitted, the excavation would take 18 to 36 months. Next, they need about 12 more months to restore the landfill to its former state.

However, the Newport city council has rejected Howells' request due to environmental concerns, despite the engineer's team committing to help the city 'modernize' the landfill by using AI (artificial intelligence) to search and ensure that the lives of residents are not disrupted.

After several rejections, Howells' lawyers filed a counter-lawsuit against the city council for refusing to cooperate with a world-renowned expert to handle the hazardous waste from the landfill. They also accused the council of missing an opportunity to receive a 10% reward as a massive investment, essential for the people.

The council's lawyers argue that since the hard drive was discarded in the landfill, ownership now belongs to the city. Howells is not giving up; he even claims he will dedicate his life to recovering this hard drive. 'We are prepared to go to the appellate court, the supreme court. I don't want to go to court, but I have to,' Howells said.

After multiple lawsuits, Howells' team has recently filed another lawsuit against the Newport city council, demanding compensation amounting to over 600 million USD, equivalent to the current value of 8,000 Bitcoin.

City council representatives maintain their stance, arguing that excavation would have a negative impact on the surrounding environment. Based on environmental permits, they cannot grant permission for Howells' plan.

Howells' lawsuit will be heard by the court on December 3 of this year. At that time, the judge will decide whether the Newport city council must allow Howells to access the landfill or if compensation is required for the lost Bitcoin.


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