Man makes last-ditch effort to recover $280 million in bitcoin he accidentally threw out

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Death Awaits You
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James Howells, 35, said he mistakenly put a hard drive with 7,500 bitcoins in the trash while clearing out his home in 2013.
At today's prices, that haul would be worth more than $280 million
He needs permission from his local council to search a garbage dump he believes contains the lost hardware
The Newport City Council has rejected his requests to look through the landfill, citing environmental and funding concerns

LONDON — A British man who accidentally threw out a hard drive with a trove of bitcoin on it is once again urging local city officials to let him search for it in a landfill site.

James Howells, a 35-year-old IT engineer from Newport, Wales, said he discarded the device while clearing out his home in 2013. He claims he had two identical laptop hard drives, and that he mistakenly put the one containing the cryptographic "private key" needed to access and spend his bitcoins in the trash.

After all these years, Howells is still confident he'd be able to recover the bitcoin. Though the external part of the hard drive may be damaged and rusted, he believes the platter inside may still be intact.

"There is a good chance the platter inside the drive is still intact," he told CNBC. "Data recovery experts could then rebuild the drive or read the data directly from the platter."

Howells says he had 7,500 bitcoins which, at today's prices, would be worth more than $280 million. He says the only way to regain access to it would be through the hard drive he threw in the trash eight years ago

But he needs permission from his local council to search a garbage dump he believes contains the lost hardware. The landfill is not open to the public and trespassing would be considered a criminal offense.

Howells has offered to donate 25% of the haul — worth around $70.8 million — to a "Covid Relief Fund" for his home city if he manages to dig up the hard drive. He has also promised to fund the excavation project with the backing of an unnamed hedge fund.
But the Newport City Council has so far rejected his requests to look through the landfill, citing environmental and funding concerns. And it doesn't seem like local officials are about to budge anytime soon.

"As far as I am aware they have already rejected the offer," Howells said. "Without even having heard our plan of action or without being given a chance to present our mitigations to their concerns regarding the environment, it's just a straight up 'no' every time."

A spokesperson for the council told CNBC it had been "contacted a number of times since 2013 about the possibility of retrieving a piece of IT hardware said to contain bitcoins," the first being "several months" after Howells first realized the drive had gone missing.

"The council has told Mr Howells on a number of occasions that excavation is not possible under our licencing permit and excavation itself would have a huge environmental impact on the surrounding area," the council spokesperson said.

"The cost of digging up the landfill, storing and treating the waste could run into millions of pounds — without any guarantee of either finding it or it still being in working order."

It's not hard to imagine why Howells would want to salvage the equipment. Bitcoin prices have skyrocketed in the past few months, hitting an all-time high near $42,000 last week before pulling back sharply.

The New York Times reported Tuesday that a programmer in San Francisco has been locked out of 7,002 bitcoins — worth about $267.8 million today — because he forgot the password needed to unlock a small hard drive containing the private key to a digital wallet.

Bitcoin's network is decentralized, meaning it isn't controlled by a single individual but a network of computers. Each transaction originates from a wallet which has a "private key." This is a digital signature and provides mathematical proof that the transaction has come from the owner of the wallet.
 

Hybrid()

Death Awaits You
I would've kill myself already if I was him. How can this guy even sleep at night knowing that he threw away $280 million
 
View attachment 166439
James Howells, 35, said he mistakenly put a hard drive with 7,500 bitcoins in the trash while clearing out his home in 2013.
At today's prices, that haul would be worth more than $280 million
He needs permission from his local council to search a garbage dump he believes contains the lost hardware
The Newport City Council has rejected his requests to look through the landfill, citing environmental and funding concerns

LONDON — A British man who accidentally threw out a hard drive with a trove of bitcoin on it is once again urging local city officials to let him search for it in a landfill site.

James Howells, a 35-year-old IT engineer from Newport, Wales, said he discarded the device while clearing out his home in 2013. He claims he had two identical laptop hard drives, and that he mistakenly put the one containing the cryptographic "private key" needed to access and spend his bitcoins in the trash.

After all these years, Howells is still confident he'd be able to recover the bitcoin. Though the external part of the hard drive may be damaged and rusted, he believes the platter inside may still be intact.

"There is a good chance the platter inside the drive is still intact," he told CNBC. "Data recovery experts could then rebuild the drive or read the data directly from the platter."

Howells says he had 7,500 bitcoins which, at today's prices, would be worth more than $280 million. He says the only way to regain access to it would be through the hard drive he threw in the trash eight years ago

But he needs permission from his local council to search a garbage dump he believes contains the lost hardware. The landfill is not open to the public and trespassing would be considered a criminal offense.

Howells has offered to donate 25% of the haul — worth around $70.8 million — to a "Covid Relief Fund" for his home city if he manages to dig up the hard drive. He has also promised to fund the excavation project with the backing of an unnamed hedge fund.
But the Newport City Council has so far rejected his requests to look through the landfill, citing environmental and funding concerns. And it doesn't seem like local officials are about to budge anytime soon.

"As far as I am aware they have already rejected the offer," Howells said. "Without even having heard our plan of action or without being given a chance to present our mitigations to their concerns regarding the environment, it's just a straight up 'no' every time."

A spokesperson for the council told CNBC it had been "contacted a number of times since 2013 about the possibility of retrieving a piece of IT hardware said to contain bitcoins," the first being "several months" after Howells first realized the drive had gone missing.

"The council has told Mr Howells on a number of occasions that excavation is not possible under our licencing permit and excavation itself would have a huge environmental impact on the surrounding area," the council spokesperson said.

"The cost of digging up the landfill, storing and treating the waste could run into millions of pounds — without any guarantee of either finding it or it still being in working order."

It's not hard to imagine why Howells would want to salvage the equipment. Bitcoin prices have skyrocketed in the past few months, hitting an all-time high near $42,000 last week before pulling back sharply.

The New York Times reported Tuesday that a programmer in San Francisco has been locked out of 7,002 bitcoins — worth about $267.8 million today — because he forgot the password needed to unlock a small hard drive containing the private key to a digital wallet.

Bitcoin's network is decentralized, meaning it isn't controlled by a single individual but a network of computers. Each transaction originates from a wallet which has a "private key." This is a digital signature and provides mathematical proof that the transaction has come from the owner of the wallet.
Seems like fake news to me🤔
 

Ras

It's all so tiresome
VIP
At least he has the tiniest hope to get it back.

There are people who spent thousands of bitcoins when they were worth cents like that guy who bought a pizza for 10,000 bitcoins worth over 300 million dollars today.
 

Caaro

I do something called "what I want"
2021 GRANDMASTER
VIP
At least he has the tiniest hope to get it back.

There are people who spent thousands of bitcoins when they were worth cents like that guy who bought a pizza for 10,000 bitcoins worth over 300 million dollars today.
Yeah I heard of that exact story. Selling bitcoin for a slice of pizza :damn:
 

Hybrid()

Death Awaits You
At least he has the tiniest hope to get it back.

There are people who spent thousands of bitcoins when they were worth cents like that guy who bought a pizza for 10,000 bitcoins worth over 300 million dollars today.
Those people spent their bitcoin or sold it. You can't count the value of something after you made a transaction.
 

Caaro

I do something called "what I want"
2021 GRANDMASTER
VIP
Those people spent their bitcoin or sold it. You can't count the value of something after you made a transaction.
That's true, at the time they made a transaction that they thought was fair. Which it was fair, since no one actually knew what the future would be. For all they know bitcoin would drop in value.

But this guy just lost it, for literally nothing. That's even more frustrating.
 

Ras

It's all so tiresome
VIP
Those people spent their bitcoin or sold it. You can't count the value of something after you made a transaction.

Anyone would regret it though. This is why it won't really be considered a currency until it's spot price barely fluctuates like a boring top tier currency.

Even when it's at 100k per coin it could still go up by 100% randomly.
 

Geelraac

6 foot barefoot
And know that what has passed you by [and you have failed to attain] was not going to befall you, and what has befallen you was not going to pass you by. And know that victory comes with patience, relief with affliction, and hardship with ease.
Reference : Hadith 19, 40 Hadith an-Nawawi
 

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