• In 2013, James Howells, a Welsh IT engineer,
accidentally discarded a hard drive containing 8,000 Bitcoins, now worth approximately $800 million, when histhen-partner, Halfina Eddy-Evans, mistook it for trash during a house cleanup and took it to a Newport, Wales landfill. Howells has spent over a decade trying to recover the drive, facing repeated denials from Newport City Council due to environmental and cost concerns. After losing a 2024 lawsuit to force the council to allow a search, Howells proposed buying the landfill to excavate ithimself, with funding from unnamed investors Eddy-Evans, no longer with Howells, expressed regret but hopes he finds the drive to move on, denying any intent to claim the fortune. Howells remains determined, planning a high-tech search with Al and robotics, despite
skepticism about the drive's condition and recoverability.
