Twelve years, tons of trash, and a fortune impossible to recover. James Howells, the Welsh engineer whose story became one of the most shocking tragedies of the digital age, has decided to give up. The man who accidentally threw away a hard drive containing 8,000 #bitcoin (now valued at 742 million euros) announces the definitive end of his struggle.

In 2010, Howells glimpsed the potential of $BTC before most. He acquired 8,000 units for just a few cents, a move that would have changed his life. But three years later, while disposing of an old hard drive without checking its contents, he buried (literally) his fortune in the landfill of the city of Newport.

"It's like burning a Picasso painting without knowing it," said Howells himself. The loss multiplied over time: 4 million in 2013, 350 million in 2021, and today, nearly three-quarters of a trillion.

In crypto, any mistake can be fatal.