In 2013, when Bitcoin was still just an "interesting but vague" concept to most people, an IT engineer in Wales named James Howells accidentally made a mistake that changed his life:

He accidentally threw away the hard drive containing the private key for 8,000 BTC into the trash. At that time, the price of Bitcoin was very cheap. No one thought this "virtual money" would become an asset worth hundreds of millions of dollars. But as time passed, Bitcoin increased in value in ways no one dared to dream — and James's hard drive, if intact, is now worth about $950 million.

12 Years – An Endless Search

James did not give up. For over a decade, he:

  • Pursuing legal procedures to obtain permission to excavate the landfill.

  • Calling for investors to fund search campaigns

  • Hiring experts & robots to scan for trash.

  • Facing the press, the public, and both criticism and sympathy.

But every effort was blocked by the law and the harsh reality:

That hard drive lies somewhere among millions of tons of trash, damaged by time, moisture, and the decomposition process.

Curtain Down

In August 2025, James officially announced:

"I stop. No more searching."

No more campaigns, no more hope.

Those 8,000 BTC will forever lie beneath the trash of Newport — like a buried treasure that no one touches.

A Costly Lesson

This story is not just a personal tragedy, but also a reminder for all of us in the crypto world:

  • Manage your private keys absolutely securely – because once lost, no one can recover them.

  • The value of what you hold today can change unimaginably in the future.

  • And sometimes, the greatest losses don't come from scams or hacks — but from a moment of carelessness.

💭 If it were you, what would you do if one day you lost nearly $1 billion due to such a mistake?

Remember: In crypto, "keys" are power. And losing a key… means losing everything.