James Howells, the British IT engineer who famously lost a hard drive containing 8,000 BTC in a landfill back in 2013, says he hasn’t given up—despite a wave of recent headlines claiming otherwise.
Howells accidentally threw out the drive while cleaning, unaware that it held a digital fortune. Today, that lost stash is worth over $915 million at current Bitcoin prices (~$114,231 per BTC). For over a decade, he’s tried everything—from legal appeals to AI-powered landfill scans—to recover it, but the Newport City Council has consistently denied excavation permission.
In July, Howells made one final formal offer—valued between $33M and $40M—to buy the landfill outright. But with no response from local authorities, he’s now pivoting to a new strategy: tokenizing his legal claim.
He plans to launch an Ordinals-based token representing 21% of the lost wallet’s value, potentially offering holders a stake in any future recovery or legal win. However, since the council refuses to sell or respond, Howell says he is no longer actively pursuing excavation.
Still, the token idea keeps hope alive—not just for him, but for crypto believers following one of the most dramatic lost-Bitcoin sagas ever.
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