A man’s quest to recover £598 million in Bitcoin from a landfill has been halted by a court ruling, leaving him frustrated and without options.
Newport: So, there’s this guy named James Howells who accidentally tossed out a hard drive with 8,000 Bitcoin on it over a decade ago. Can you believe that? He lost it during a spring clean back in 2013, and now it’s worth a whopping £598 million!
He’s been trying to get it back ever since, but the Newport Council isn’t playing ball. They’ve flat-out refused to help him find it. James even said last year that he might have to take them to court if they didn’t cooperate.
Well, he did go to court, but a judge just shot down his case. The judge said there weren’t any good reasons to bring it to court and that it probably wouldn’t succeed anyway. Ouch!
James mined those Bitcoins back in 2009 when they were practically worthless. He just stored the hard drive in a black bag and forgot about it. Fast forward a bit, and suddenly it’s worth millions. But by then, it was long gone, buried under tons of trash at a recycling center.
He even offered the council £10 million to help dig it up, but they said it would be too risky and could harm the environment. They’re not keen on the idea at all.
After the judge’s decision, James was pretty upset. He felt like he didn’t even get a fair chance to explain his side. He said it’s not about greed; he just wants a conversation with someone in power.
The council’s lawyer argued that James lost ownership of the hard drive once it hit the landfill. Plus, digging it up would break environmental rules. The judge agreed, saying there just wasn’t enough reason to keep the case going.
It’s a tough break for James, who feels like the system has let him down big time. What a wild story, right?
