Bitcoin Billionaire Hunts for Lost Fortune in UK Landfill

The saga of a Bitcoin (BTC) fortune lost in a UK landfill continues, as the owner of the hard drive containing the cryptocurrency considers purchasing the dumping ground to recover his funds. James Howells, a Welsh man who accidentally threw away his storage wallet in 2013, is now exploring the possibility of acquiring the landfill after his previous attempts to search it were rejected by the UK government.

Howells' Bitcoin stash, worth an estimated $800 million at today's prices, was stored on a hard drive that he mistakenly discarded in a black plastic trash bag, believing it to be blank. The hard drive not only contained $9 million worth of BTC at the time but also held a record of his private keys, which are necessary to access the crypto wallet.

In 2021, Howells offered the Newport City Council $70 million for permission to dig up the site, but his bid was rejected. In January of this year, a judge dismissed his attempts to force the council to allow him to comb through the area due to environmental concerns. The judge's ruling, as reported by CNN, stated that the position was no different in principle from what it would be if the record of the private key had been written on a piece of paper that had been put into the landfill.

Earlier this month, a Newport City spokesperson confirmed that the landfill is set to close in the 2025-2026 fiscal year. The landfill has been in operation since the early 2000s and is nearing the end of its life, with the council working on a planned closure and capping of the site over the next two years.

Howells' determination to recover his lost Bitcoin fortune has captured the attention of the cryptocurrency community and sparked discussions about the importance of securely storing and backing up digital assets. As the landfill's closure approaches, it remains to be seen whether Howells will succeed in his quest to purchase the site and retrieve his valuable cryptocurrency stash.