Remember the guy who threw away over $750 million in Bitcoin? Now he wants to buy the dump where he thinks its buried

Source: https://fortune.com/2025/02/11/bitcoin-trash-landfill-purchase-james-howells-newport/
Published: Feb 12, 2025
Author: Horse
Post Date: 2025-02-12 07:13:48 by Horse
Views: 528

James Howells, who has spent the last 12 years trying to convince officials in the U.K. city of Newport to let him explore the city landfill, is now offering to buy the dump.

Howells believes the landfill contains an old hard drive of his that contains almost $770 million in Bitcoin. His attempts to excavate the drive through legal means hit a dead end in January, when a judge ruled he had “no realistic prospect of succeeding” in his effort if the case were to continue.

This year, however, the landfill is being closed and will reportedly be replaced by a solar farm. And Howells sees that as an opening.

“The council planning on closing the landfill so soon is quite a surprise, especially since it claimed at the High Court that closing the landfill to allow me to search would have a huge detrimental impact on the people of Newport, whilst at the same time they were planning to close the landfill anyway,” he told the UK media outlet Metro. “I would be potentially interested in purchasing the landfill site. I have discussed this option recently with investment partners and it is very much on the table.”

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#1: Pinguinite    To: Horse (#0)

At the time the computer was mistakenly thrown away, the bitcoin was worth about $50, give or take a couple zeros.

Pinguinite posted on 2025-02-12 15:54:31   Reply   Private Reply


#2: Dakmar    To: Pinguinite (#1)

The whole Mistakenly Chucking Wealth aspect of digital currency frightens me. Wait...are backups possible? :)

Dakmar posted on 2025-02-12 19:23:30   Reply   Private Reply


#3: Pinguinite    To: Dakmar (#2)

For crypto wallets, backups are not only possible, they can be done by memorizing words. Twelve words, from a dictionary of 2048 words, in the right order.

Yes, there are just 12 words separating everyone on the planet from that $770 million landfill jackpot. But not even supercomputers can guess it. The number of combinations are just that astronomical.

Pinguinite posted on 2025-02-12 20:15:34   Reply   Private Reply


#4: Dakmar    To: Pinguinite (#3)

For crypto wallets, backups are not only possible, they can be done by memorizing words. Twelve words, from a dictionary of 2048 words, in the right order.

Sounds like a cult! :)

Dakmar posted on 2025-02-12 20:17:27   Reply   Private Reply


#5: ghostrider    To: Dakmar (#4)

like a cult

Brush up on your Gregorian Chants and I'll tell you about the Fish Friar and the Chip Monk.

ghostrider posted on 2025-02-12 21:46:36   Reply   Private Reply


#6: Dakmar    To: ghostrider (#5)

Bensonhoist Lesbian Choir, lol

Dakmar posted on 2025-02-12 21:59:25   Reply   Private Reply