Crypto Bro James Howells Tossed $1.2 Billion Bitcoin In The Trash…. Now He Wants To Buy Entire Landfill
- IT worker James Howells accidentally threw away a hard drive containing 7,500 Bitcoins in 2013.
- The Newport City Council has consistently denied his requests to dig, citing environmental concerns.
- After failed legal battles and council rejections, he’s now considering purchasing the entire Welsh dump.
Cryptocurrency has taken us for a rollercoaster ride since its birth, with a market cap exceeding the $3 trillion USD mark in just 15 years. Along this wild journey, we’ve heard some truly incredible tales — like the guy who traded 10,000 Bitcoin for two large pizzas (that did actually happen), or the countless souls that are still trying to crack lost crypto wallet passwords (no wonder they are trying since Bitcoin just crossed the $100,000 USD mark few days ago).
Now, in what might be crypto’s greatest treasure hunt ever, a British IT worker wants to buy an entire garbage dump in Wales to dig up his lost Bitcoin fortune (more precious than Gollum’s ring in The Lord of the Rings) — a staggering $750 million USD (~$1.2 billion AUD).
Buying Garbage for Gold
In 2013, British man James Howells made what would become a legendary mistake in crypto history. The IT worker accidentally tossed out a hard drive that housed the Bitcoin wallet key (the password required to unlock your Bitcoin) with roughly 7,500 BTC that he had mined in 2009 — back when Bitcoin wasn’t worth much of anything. But now things have changed, and Howells is aiming for the Docksway Welsh dump, where his valuable digital treasure, by his estimate, lies somewhere beneath masses of rubbish.
After years of failed recovery attempts, Howells recently took to X with a bold announcement: “Am considering purchasing a landfill site. Funding secured.”
The unfortunate disposal happened when Howells mistook the drive for a blank one while clearing out his house, leaving it in a trash bag for his then-partner to discard. By the time he realised his mistake, the price of Bitcoin had begun its record rise, going on to surge beyond anyone’s wildest dreams.
A Legal Battle for Lost Riches
Before considering his decision to purchase, Howells tried everything he could to get into the Docksway Landfill. In 2021, he even offered Newport City Council 10% of the Bitcoin value for the green light to dig, but they said no, pointing to licensing issues and environmental concerns about excavating rubbish.
When the council would not back down, Howells took his case to court. But the High Court judge decided in favour of the city, and he was back at square one. His last hope now lies in waiting it out until 2026, when Newport City will close down the landfill due to capacity limits — possibly opening a window of opportunity for purchase and excavation.
But even if Howells can somehow manage to buy the landfill, he has a Herculean task in front of him. The hard drive has been buried under thousands of tons of trash for over a decade, and its contents may be corrupted — though hope springs eternal when searching for buried treasure. In reality, perhaps some fortunes are simply not meant to be found, even those worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
