After a long search of 12 years, British man James Howells has decided to abandon the search for a hard drive that he had previously discarded, which contained 8,000 bitcoins (valued at approximately $9.2 billion based on a price of $115,000).
Source: (Odaily Planet Daily)
Odaily Planet Daily note: Regarding the specific number of lost bitcoins, although early UK media reported it as 7,500, later media reports and Howells' description indicated 8,000, so this article will use that figure.
Accidentally lost 8,000 bitcoins
James Howells was born in the 1980s in Newport, Wales. Influenced by his mother, who worked in microchip production, Howells was exposed to computer technology at an early age, became a frequent internet user as a teenager, started assembling computers at 13, and eventually became a computer engineer.
As early as late 2008, Howells had come into contact with bitcoin knowledge. On February 15, 2009, Howells began mining bitcoin using a Dell XPS laptop—(The Daily Telegraph) recognized him as one of the earliest miners on the bitcoin network, and (The New Yorker) pointed out that at the time, there were only five miners in the entire network.
However, Howells' mining work did not last long, as his girlfriend constantly complained about the noise from the laptop while mining and that the equipment was too hot... In 2010, Howells accidentally spilled lemonade on the computer, damaging it, so he disassembled it and removed the parts, most of which were thrown away or sold, while the hard drive containing the information of the 8,000 bitcoin private keys was left lying in a drawer.
Between June 20 and August 10, 2013, Howells mistakenly discarded the hard drive as waste. Howells later stated that it was his ex-girlfriend Hafina Eddy-Evans who transported the garbage containing the hard drive to the landfill, but Eddy-Evans claimed that Howells had asked her to help dispose of these waste items, denying any wrongdoing on her part, while Howells stated that he subconsciously believed she should be responsible for it.
Howells recalled later: "I wasn't paying much attention to bitcoin at the time because I was distracted. After that, I had a few kids and started renovating my house, completely forgetting about bitcoin until it appeared in the news again."
In November 2013, (The Guardian) reported speculating that the hard drive had been buried about 0.9 to 1.5 meters underground at the Newport Docksway landfill, and Howells admitted in that interview that these bitcoins might have been permanently discarded.
The Newport City Council subsequently pointed out that the hard drive may be buried under 25,000 cubic meters (about 110,000 to 200,000 tons) of waste. The former landfill manager confirmed that it is located in a landfill area known as Cell-2, with a capacity of 15,000 tons (accumulation area from August to November 2013), with a total landfill volume reaching 1.4 million tons.
Bitcoin price appreciation, search obstructed
As the price of bitcoin continued to rise, Howells began to repeatedly attempt to search for the hard drive, but was repeatedly denied by the local council for various reasons.
In December 2017, the Newport City Council rejected Howells' search application for the landfill on the grounds of cost, environmental impact, equipment corrosion risk, and potential illegal activities that could trigger a "gold rush." In January 2021, Howells proposed to donate 25% of these bitcoins (valued at £52.5 million at the time) to the local 316,000 residents (about £175 per person), but the council rejected it again on the grounds of violating permit regulations.
A spokesperson for the Newport City Council stated in an interview with CNN that local government departments have received multiple contacts since 2013, inquiring whether they could assist in recovering the hard drive that allegedly contained bitcoins. The council did not reject this proposal, but was not allowed to excavate the site—"The council has repeatedly informed Mr. Howells that, according to our permitting regulations, it is impossible to excavate the landfill, and that the excavation itself would have a significant environmental impact on the surrounding area. The costs of excavating the landfill, storing, and processing waste could amount to millions of pounds, and there is no guarantee that the hard drive would be found or that it would still function properly."
However, at this point, Howells insisted that the hard drive could still function normally under the protective cobalt layer of the protective casing and glass platters—after all, with the value of these bitcoins skyrocketing, no one could easily give up such a large fortune.
In order to obtain the council's landfill access permit, Howells had developed multiple detailed plans to address the council's concerns. During this period, a hedge fund had expressed interest in funding Howells (with both parties negotiating a 50% profit share), planning to locate the hard drive using municipal waste records, with a professional data recovery team handling it. Howells' budget for the excavation work at that time was £5 million over a period of 9 to 12 months. In August 2022, with the assistance of some venture capital funds (which would take a 30% profit share), Howells upgraded the search plan to use AI robotic arms to scan waste, deploy drones and Boston Dynamics robotic dogs for security, and form an environmental team, with the budget also increasing to £10-11 million.
In order to gain community support and obtain permission from the council for the search, Howells had proposed to use the proceeds to develop a community-owned mining facility at the landfill, which would utilize solar or wind energy.
On September 6, 2023, after repeatedly applying without success, Howells commissioned his legal team to issue an open letter to the Newport City Council, stating that he would file a lawsuit. The open letter requested the city to suspend construction at the landfill while also claiming £446 million and applying for a judicial review of the council's decision to refuse site access. Two months later, his legal team wrote again to the council, requesting site access before resorting to the courts.
As of October 2024, the bitcoins on that hard drive are valued at $750 million. Howells ultimately sued the council for a claim amount of £495 million, but the council argued that according to waste disposal regulations, ownership of the hard drive had already belonged to the municipality.
On January 9, 2025, the judge ultimately ruled to dismiss Howells' lawsuit, stating that the case "lacked reasonable grounds" and "had no prospect of success." Howells expressed to the media that he was "extremely disappointed," but also revealed his new plan—to issue a new cryptocurrency anchored by the unrecoverable bitcoins.
Search fruitless, seeking new paths
Due to the persistent inability to obtain entry permission from the council, Howells ultimately chose to abandon the search for work but opted for another potential path.
As early as May of this year, Howells had revealed on his personal X that he intended to tokenize 21% of the 8,000 bitcoins, aiming to launch during TOKEN 2049 Singapore on October 1, planning to raise $75 million... but in the following months, Howells did not mention this matter again on his personal social media channels, and it appeared that the plan had already faltered—after all, everyone knows that there is a high likelihood that the bitcoins cannot be recovered, and seeking to raise $75 million seems a bit desperate.
This morning, Howells revealed a new plan regarding the tokenization of those bitcoins, planning to issue 800 billion Ceiniog Coins (INI), targeting the end of the year, which will be built on the bitcoin network, supported by OP_RETURN, integrated with Stacks, Runes, and Ordinals, with each INI pegged to the value of 1 satoshi of those bitcoins...
Howells also released a rather passionate statement: "To all the senior and outstanding gatekeepers who have impeded me for over a decade: You can block the doors! You can control the courts! But you cannot stop the blockchain! Cryptocurrency has won!"
However, considering the fact that the hard drive is still untraceable, even if Howells describes it beautifully, INI actually has no asset support, and the future of the plan remains questionable.
Cryptocurrency may win, but Howells' token issuance is unlikely to.
This article is published with permission from: (Foresight News)
Original title: (After searching the landfill for 12 years, this man chooses to give up on $920 million)
Original author: Azuma, Odaily Planet Daily
'Lost in the landfill for 12 years! With $920 million bitcoins gone, he chooses to issue a token linked to the lost asset' was first published in 'Crypto City'.
