James Howells, a British IT worker, made a costly mistake in 2009 when he threw away the hard drive containing his Bitcoin stash. Now worth over $700 million, he’s trying to recover it by buying a landfill where he thinks it might be buried.
Howells is guessing that his hard drive was thrown away at a South Wales landfill, which is approaching maximum capacity. He believes the hard drive could still be found under 25,000 cubic meters of waste and earth, but officials have warned about the ecological dangers of digging up the site.
The city has rejected previous proposals to allow Howells to search for his lost fortune, citing safety concerns and environmental risks. Howells has come up with various schemes, including sending in robot dogs and trying to buy the landfill, but none have been successful so far.
Howells is now trying to buy the landfill outright, hoping that his team of data retrieval specialists can recover the hard drive. The city’s decision on this proposal remains uncertain, but it seems unlikely that Howells will find what he’s looking for under the landfill.
Source: https://www.engadget.com/general/the-guy-who-accidentally-threw-away-700-million-in-bitcoin-wants-to-buy-a-landfill-to-find-it-165314378.html