A man who mistakenly threw away a hard drive containing Bitcoin worth $288m now looks set to be denied the chance to retrieve it from landfill. James Howells, a Welsh IT worker, has been told that a judge has struck out his attempt to claim against his local council for permission to excavate a specified area of Newport landfill. Mr Howells had offered to donate 10% of the Bitcoin’s worth to the local council if he was allowed to search for the hard drive. Newport City Council argued the reward was legally insufficient in return for the environmental harm caused by a potential excavation.
Reacting to the decision, Mr Howells said he was disappointed as he had “been trying to engage with Newport City Council in every way possible”. He added that he had expected to explain himself in full at trial. Mr Howells was an early adopter of Bitcoin and had successfully mined the cryptocurrency, which he “forgot altogether about” when he disposed of the hard drive. The value of the Bitcoin has since skyrocketed by more than 80%, and he has argued that he should be permitted to excavate a limited area of the landfill to retrieve it.
Although Howells claimed that he would share the proceeds of the digital currency with Newport City Council if the Bitcoin was found, the offer was considered legally insufficient. James Goudie KC, representing the council, successfully argued that the hard drive became the council’s property when it entered the landfill. Goudie also cited environmental concerns with fixing the damage of the excavation. A judge completely dismissed Howells’s attempt to claim via court, ruling that it would not have a realistic chance to succeed if the case went to trial.
Bitcoin is known to many as a virtual currency, a cryptocurrency or a digital currency, and is a form of internet-generated money that has no physical coins or notes. While it can be used to purchase both services and products, few stores acknowledge Bitcoin, and some countries – including China and Saudi Arabia – have prohibited it outright.
A further complication for Mr. Howellsis that his hard drive is in an area consisting of roughly 100,000 of the 1.4 million tonnes of waste in the landfill, indicating the excavation could be more precarious. Mr. Howells has speculated that the Bitcoin on his hard drive would have a worth of £1bn by next year. Alas, after his application has been struck out, it is highly unlikely that he will be able to excavate the landfill to retrieve the hard drive
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