James Howells, a Welsh man who lost 8,000 bitcoins to a landfill, has been fighting for years. He lost another appeal, trying to get the right to purchase and excavate the site, and plans to go to the European Court of Human Rights.
The city of Newport plans to seal off the landfill and turn it into a solar farm in 2026. It has a long-term economic vision for the site, and zero interest in Howells’ dogged efforts.
Howells’ Quest to Recover Landfill Bitcoin
The price of Bitcoin has shot up wildly in the last few years. There’s no shortage of anecdotes from people who purchased BTC long ago and lost or spent it all. Some people, however, go further than others with their regrets.
James Howells, a man who lost a hard drive with 8,000 bitcoins on it, has fought for years to excavate the landfill where it rests.
Despite British courts repeatedly refusing to let Howells dig up the landfill and recover his Bitcoin, the potential gain is too great to forget.
He offered the Newport local council $72 million in 2021 and tried to purchase the landfill this February. Today, his legal battle to force the issue met another setback, as another appeals petition was shut down:
“Appeal request to the Royal Court of Appeal: refused. The Great British Injustice System strikes again… The state always protects the state. Next stop: the European Court of Human Rights,” Howells posted on social media.
According to reports, the presiding judge dismissed Howells’ arguments. He said that the effort didn’t have “any real prospect of success” and that “there is no compelling reason” why the Court should consider his appeal.
Also, Newport’s city council is not interested in Bitcoin and plans to seal off and redevelop the landfill site in 2026.
Indeed, there are many sad cases of lost Bitcoin, though few are quite so flamboyant as Howells’ landfill saga.
In 2021, the British government estimated that $140 billion worth of Bitcoin had been lost. This number has shot up tremendously since then. Even if Howells could excavate the site, it’s very unlikely that his hard drive will remain functional.
In short, storing cryptoassets on a hard wallet is probably the safest method, but anything is possible. Freak accidents like Howells’ can and have destroyed vast sums of money all over the world.
Overall, he is still determined to get his Bitcoin back from the landfill, but it seems like an impossible task.
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