James Howells, a 39-year-old computer engineer with a £600m fortune in Bitcoin, is now considering purchasing a landfill site in Newport, Wales, to find his lost hard drive. The hard drive, worth an estimated £598m, was thrown out in 2013 by his former partner, who mistakenly dumped it.
Howells has spent the past decade trying to recover the cryptocurrency from the landfill. However, a High Court judge recently threw out his case against the local council, allowing them to close the site and turn it into a solar farm. The council plans to close the landfill in 2025-26.
Despite this, Howells is open to purchasing the site, hoping to finally locate his missing hard drive. He has discussed this option with investment partners and believes it’s a viable solution. The Bitcoin hard drive was lost during the late noughties, but its value increased significantly in 2024, prompting Howells to assemble a team of experts to search for it.
The landfill site holds over 1.4 million tonnes of waste, and Howells has narrowed the location of his wallet’s position to an area of just 100,000 tonnes. The local council initially refused access to excavate the site or receive £495m in compensation, but Howells’ case was ultimately dismissed by a judge who ruled there were “no realistic prospects” of success.
Source: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/bitcoin-landfill-james-howells-net-worth-newport-b2696619.html