The British man who lost Bitcoin worth $780m in the garbage now wants to buy landfill

13 hours ago 5

A machine technologist wants to bargain the landfill wherever his Bitcoin trove is buried.
The landfill is acceptable to adjacent by 2026 with plans to crook it into a star farm.
Howells has been successful a ineligible spat with the metropolis for much than a decade.

James Howells conscionable won’t springiness up.

After losing the alphanumeric keys to 8,000 Bitcoin successful a UK landfill 11 years ago, the machine technologist has tried everything to excavate a hard thrust and retrieve a luck present worthy $780 million.

He sued the municipal authorities successful Newport, Wales, to licence him to sift done much than 350,000 tonnes of rubbish to nary avail — past month, a UK tribunal denied his petition.

Now Howells whitethorn person lone 1 determination left: buying the landfill wherever his luck is buried.

The landfill is slated for closure successful the Newport council’s 2025-2026 fiscal year, the BBC reported.

If helium tin get the dump, helium won’t request support to hunt for the instrumentality that could reconstruct his mislaid fortune.

“I would beryllium perchance funny successful purchasing the landfill site,” Howells told the BBC, adding that helium has already spoken with concern partners. “It is precise overmuch connected the table.”

Newport council, which antecedently argued that excavating the landfill would airs biology risks and disrupt metropolis operations, has yet to remark connected the imaginable sale.

The municipality has already approved plans to person the tract into a star farm.

Howells has agelong maintained that a hunt for the hard thrust could beryllium done successful an environmentally harmless manner.

He adjacent pitched a plan involving AI-driven scanning, concern robots, and biology engineers to guarantee minimal disruption to the site.

The assembly ne'er entertained the proposal, starring Howells to instrumentality his lawsuit to tribunal successful 2024 — lone to person it dismissed.

Judge Keyser KC ruled that the lone applicable ineligible question was ownership, and since the hard thrust was discarded arsenic waste, it legally belonged to the city.