British man's dream breaks: 8,000 bitcoins buried deep in the garbage dump
Reprinted from panewslab
03/18/2025·3MAuthor: 1912212.eth, Foresight News
On March 13, a treasure hunt farce that lasted for more than ten years came to an end in the British Court of Appeal. James Howells, a 38-year-old software engineer, was unable to get permission to dig a Newport landfill as he wished to retrieve the hard drive he accidentally discarded in 2013 - which contained 8,000 priceless bitcoins. If calculated based on the highest price of Bitcoin of $109,000, the Bitcoin stored on this hard disk was once worth more than $872 million, which is the most expensive hard disk in history.
This strange legal tug-of-war is dramatic and not inferior to the plot of Mark Twain's "Million Pounds" novel, but Howells is not the protagonist of the novel and ultimately failed to become a billionaire.
The birth and loss of golden hard drives
The story starts in 2009.
Bitcoin was just born at that time, and it was still a little-known novelty. However, the young IT engineer Howells keenly smelled its potential. He has been passionate about technology since he was a child. It is understood that his mother worked in the field of microchip production. He has used the Internet frequently since he was a teenager and started assembling computers at the age of 13, showing outstanding technical talent. He later entered university to study computer-related majors and has worked in several IT-related jobs throughout his career, including exposure to encryption technology in the Bowman Communication Systems project.
On January 4, 2009, Bitcoin was officially born, and it was extremely difficult to mine at that time. The New York Times mentioned that Howells was probably one of only five miners in the world at that time. He used a regular Dell XPS laptop and mined a total of 8,000 bitcoins at home.
At that time, Bitcoin was almost worthless and he didn't care much. Howells stored the private key in an old hard drive and threw it into the drawer.
Fast forward to 2013, Bitcoin prices began to take off, and Howells' life ushered in a disastrous cleanup. His partner thought there were too many miscellaneous items at home, so Howells cleaned up a lot. Unfortunately, the hard drive containing the Bitcoin private key was mistaken for broken garbage, and was thrown into the trash can along with a pile of used electronics, and was eventually shipped to a landfill in the suburbs of Newport, when Bitcoin was worth $13 per coin.
"I didn't realize what was lost at the time," Howells later recalled that it was not until a few months later that I realized that my wealth was buried in the garbage dump.
BTC rose from US$13 to US$100,000, which also increased by more than 7,700 times.
From shock to action: a long legal war
At the end of 2013, Bitcoin price exceeded $1,000, and Howells realized that what he lost might be a mountain of gold. At the end of 2024, Bitcoin once exceeded US$100,000, and the 8,000 Bitcoins were worth US$800 million, which is a huge wealth. So he began negotiations with Newport City Council, hoping to be allowed to dig a landfill.
However, the city council's attitude was cold. They said that the landfill has already accumulated hundreds of thousands of tons of garbage, and excavation is not only expensive, but also may release harmful gases, endangering the environment and the health of residents. Howells was not discouraged, and offered to pay out of his own pocket and form a professional team, even promising to donate some of the proceeds to the local community, but was still rejected.
Unwilling Howells turned to the law. Over the years, he has been in courts at all levels in Britain, trying to force parliament to make concessions on the grounds of property rights. His lawyer team is full of creativity and once argued that the hard drive is a modern version of the treasure and should be owned by the original owner. Unfortunately, the court did not buy it. The trial court held that once the garbage is discarded, ownership is transferred and the excavation permit falls within the jurisdiction of local authorities.
Failed to appeal: Court final judgment
On March 13, the British Court of Appeal ruled on Howells' appeal, upholding the original judgment. In the judgment, the judge pointed out that environmental protection and public safety take precedence over personal property rights and there is no evidence that the hard drive can still be found or data can be recovered. The court also joked: Even if Bitcoin is priceless, it cannot turn the garbage dump into a gold rush.
After the verdict was announced, Howells could not hide their disappointment. "I respect the court's decision, but that doesn't mean I will give up. My Bitcoin is still there, and one day I will find a way." However, he also admitted that more than a decade of garbage accumulation has made this treasure hunt nearly impossible.
summary
This strange case quickly sparked heated discussions on the Internet. Some people sympathize with Howells, saying that he is a tragic hero who missed the billionaire; others joke that he deserves it, after all, who would throw something worth $800 million into the trash can? Some netizens joked: "If this hard drive is found, the Bitcoin inside will probably smell like garbage."
Howells’ experience is undoubtedly an expensive lesson. Nowadays, Bitcoin enthusiasts often use his stories to remind each other: backup private keys, keep them carefully, and never let wealth fall into the garbage dump. For ordinary people, this may be just absurd and interesting news - after all, not everyone can throw a mountain of gold into the garbage dump, and they also expect the court to help dig it back.
The landfill in Newport City is still as calm as usual, and the legendary hard drive may have to continue sleeping in the garbage mountains. In February this year, the BBC reported that the landfill will be closed at some point in the 2025-2026 fiscal year, and this "Bitcoin Treasure Hunt" may eventually end with a sigh.
References
https://cointelegraph.com/news/ujudge-dismisses-770m-bitcoin-landfill-case
https://cointelegraph.com/news/uk-man-who-lost-bitcoin-landfill-loses-uk-appeal-case
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/czdl6er0369o
