Draft:Bitcoin buried in Newport landfill
In mid-2013, James Howells disposed of a computer hard drive containing the private keys for 7,500 Bitcoin. Howells has been attempting to recover the device, buried in Docksway landfill, Newport, but has been refused by Newport City Council who own the landfill. Howells has repeatedly requested that the council allow him to search for the device since 2013, and as of November 2024, the missing Bitcoins were worth $750 million. The attempts to recover the missing treasure has been described as a digital treasure hunt.[1][2][3]
Background
[edit]Mining Bitcoin
[edit]In 2009, James Howells, a Welsh IT worker and computer engineer from Newport,[4][5][6] mined Bitcoin with a Dell XPS laptop,[3][7] intermittently during the night for two months, which causied the device to overhead.[8]
Howells later damaged the device and dismantled it for parts, selling some on Ebay.[3][7] The laptop, containing 32 kilobytes worth of Bitcoin private keys, was also used for gaming, and held music, e-mails and family photographs.[8] The Telegraph later considered Howells to be "one of the very first Bitcoin miners",[2] with The New Yorker identifying him one of only five miners on the Bitcoin network.[8]
Disposal of hard drive
[edit]Between 20 June and 10 August 2013, Howells mistakenly disposed of the encrypted hard drive,[3][7] mistaking one device for another,[5] that contained the cryptographic private keys for 7,500 Bitcoin, valued at £500,000 at the time of disposal.[7][2] By November 2013, the Bitcoin was valued at £4 million, and the device was approximately three to five feet underground in Docksway landfill, Newport, South Wales.[9] At the time, he had accepted that the coins were lost.[7] According to Newport City Council, the hard drive would be "buried under 25,000 cubic meters of waste and earth",[10] weighing approximately 200,000 tonnes,[3] with CNN reporting the challenge in finding the device as "almost impossible".[10]
James Howells
[edit]Howells has three children with his partner Hafina. In 2021, he worked from home and worked maintaining emergency-response systems in Wales. He become a regular Internet user in his teens and later a Napster user at the time of Bitcoin's inception. After the 2008 bank bailout, he considered fiat currencies to be scams and instead favoured the vision of Bitcoin inventor Satoshi Nakamoto.[8]
Search attempts
[edit]In December 2017, Wired reported that Howells had been refused permission to search for the hard drive by Newport City Council. According to Howells, the search would involve the first case of excavating a landfill site in the United Kingdom, unrelated to a criminal investigation. The council cited concerns over costs, the environmental impact, galvanic corrosion the device would likely have suffered, and additionally noted that potential "treasure hunters" arriving at the landfill site would be breaking the law.[3] Initially the council took a soft approach to the situation, indicating that they would return the device if found, but later took a tougher stance,[8] and stated that searching for the hard drive would be be against the law.[11]
In January 2021, having repeatedly requested access to search for the device, Howells offered the council 25% of the proceedings then valued at approximately £200 million.[8] His offer was for the donation of £52.5 million ($71.7 million) to the council to go to the 316,000 population of Newport, that would equal £175 per person,[12] Howells was refused with the council claiming it would breach licensing regulations.[12] His belief was that the drive would be in functional conditions due to the protection from the casing,[13] and because the glass disk was coated in an anti-corrosive cobalt layer.[8]
According to Howells, he gained financial backing from a hedge fund, who would take 50% of the proceedings;[12] and would be able to identify the location based on council waste records,[13] followed by using data recovery specialists to recover the Bitcoin.[12] The council estimated that the cost for such excavation would cost millions of pounds,[13][14] with Howells budgeting £5 million for the operation taking 9—12 months.[8]
Litigation
[edit]By November 2024, the contents of the hard drive were worth $750 million and Howells began litigation with Newport City Council, the owners of Docksway landfill where the device is located.[1]
Opinion
[edit]Howells has stated that had he had access, he would have sold 30-40% of the Bitcoin in 2013, speculating that reaching $100,000 would be a "conservative figure" for the cryptocurrency. In 2017 his interests were focused on Bitcoin Cash and Ethereum,[3] while anticipating that the value of Bitcoin on the hard drive would rise to between $500 million and $1 billion, describing cryptocurrencies as "new gold, oil and water combined".
Howells believes that the chances of retrieving the device increases as the value increases.[2]
References
[edit]- ^ a b Pringle, Eleanor. "Crypto miner fights to retrieve $749M Bitcoin fortune 'accidentally thrown in landfill'". Fortune. Retrieved 2024-11-22.
- ^ a b c d Molloy, Mark (2017-12-03). "The unlucky man who accidentally threw away bitcoin worth $100 million". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Archived from the original on 2024-10-09. Retrieved 2024-11-22.
- ^ a b c d e f g Kobie, Nicole (2017-12-01). "This man's lost bitcoin are now worth $75m – and under 200,000 tonnes of garbage". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Archived from the original on 2024-09-20. Retrieved 2024-11-22.
- ^ Little, Darren (2013-11-28). "Bitcoin Blunder Man Throws Away '£4m Laptop'". Sky News. Retrieved 2024-11-22.
- ^ a b Humphries, Will (2021-01-14). "IT worker offers council £50m to let him search tip for bitcoin hard drive". The Times. Archived from the original on 2024-11-23. Retrieved 2024-11-23.
- ^ Leston, Ryan (2024-11-19). "Bitcoin: Newport man says binned hard drive now worth £569m". BBC News. Retrieved 2024-11-23.
- ^ a b c d e Hern, Alex (2013-11-27). "Missing: hard drive containing Bitcoins worth £4m in Newport landfill site". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2024-11-22.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Max, D. T. (2021-12-06). "Half a Billion in Bitcoin, Lost in the Dump". The New Yorker. ISSN 0028-792X. Retrieved 2024-11-23.
- ^ "James Howells searches for hard drive with £4m-worth of bitcoins stored". BBC News. 2013-11-28. Retrieved 2024-11-22.
- ^ a b Harrison, Virginia (2013-11-29). "U.K. tech worker dumps hard drive with bitcoins worth $9 million". CNNMoney. Retrieved 2024-11-22.
- ^ Carter, Shawn M. (2017-12-20). "Man accidentally threw away $127 million in bitcoin and officials won't allow a search". CNBC. Retrieved 2024-11-22.
- ^ a b c d Kolirin, Lianne (2021-01-15). "Man who accidentally threw out a bitcoin fortune offers $70 million to dig it up". CNN. Retrieved 2024-11-23.
- ^ a b c Morris, Steven (2021-01-14). "Man offers Newport council £50m if it helps find bitcoins in landfill". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2024-11-23.
- ^ Browne, Ryan (2021-01-15). "Man makes last-ditch effort to recover $280 million in bitcoin he accidentally threw out". CNBC. Retrieved 2024-11-23.