A decade after losing 8,000 bitcoins to a landfill, IT pro James Howells has a fresh chance to retrieve his buried treasure. He aims to buy the landfill and excavate it before it’s lost forever.
Howells’ plans were initially foiled by a court battle against Newport City Council in Wales in January. However, the council later announced its intention to close the landfill, reviving Hope for Howells. The IT pro has offered to purchase the site, removing trash and potentially saving the city thousands of dollars in cleanup costs.
To recover his bitcoins, Howells plans to use advanced scanning technology to locate his hard drive containing a crucial 51-character private key. If successful, this could net him nearly $800 million worth of lost cryptocurrency.
However, the Newport council seems unlikely to accept Howells’ offer, citing plans to develop a solar farm on part of the landfill property. The project aims to reduce carbon emissions and transform the site into a renewable energy source.
Source: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/02/man-offers-to-buy-city-dump-in-last-ditch-effort-to-recover-800m-in-bitcoins