A man who lost access to nearly $800 million worth of bitcoin after accidentally discarding the hard drive containing the private key has proposed purchasing the landfill where it is buried. James Howells, a resident of Wales, threw away the hard drive in 2013 while cleaning his house, mistakenly believing it was empty. The device now lies buried under layers of waste at the Docksway Landfill near Newport.
For years, Howells has attempted to retrieve the hard drive, including offering the Newport City Council over $70 million in 2021 for permission to excavate the site. However, these efforts were unsuccessful, and a British High Court judge recently dismissed his case, ruling against forcing the council to allow the search.
Howells announced on X, formerly known as Twitter, that he is considering buying the landfill, stating that funding has been secured, though he did not disclose the source. The value of the bitcoin linked to the hard drive has surged from approximately $9 million in 2013 to nearly $800 million today.
Bitcoin transactions require a private key, a unique piece of data stored in each wallet that verifies the authenticity of the transaction. Howells’ hard drive contains this critical information, described by Judge Andrew Keyser as akin to a private key written on paper and discarded in the landfill. Without the private key, Howells cannot access the bitcoin he mined during its early days.
The Newport City Council, which manages the landfill, previously stated that excavation is prohibited due to licensing restrictions and potential environmental damage. They also noted that the cost of digging up the site could be substantial, with no assurance of finding or successfully retrieving the hard drive. As of now, the council has not commented on Howells’ latest plan to purchase the landfill.