Bitcoin miner’s claim for £600m refund rejected in Newport advice

During the hearing in December, the court heard how Mr Howells was an early adopter of Bitcoin and had successfully mined the cryptocurrency.

As the value of his lost digital wallet rose, Mr Howells organized a team of experts to try to locate, recover and access the hard drive.

He repeatedly asked the council for permission to access the site, and was offered a share of the missing bitcoin if it was successfully recovered.

Mr Howells successfully “mined” Bitcoin in 2009 for next to nothing, and says he completely forgot about it when he got rid of it.

The value of the cryptocurrency has risen By more than 80% in 2024Mr Howells believes the 8,000 bitcoins are now worth more than £600 million.

But James Goodey KC, for the council, said current laws meant the hard drive became his property when it entered the landfill site. It also said its environmental permits would prevent any attempt to excavate the site to search for the hard drive.

Mr Goudie said the offer to donate 10% of bitcoin to the local community was encouraging the council to “play fast and loose” by “signing up for a share of the action”.

“I also consider that the claim would have no realistic prospect of success if taken to court, and that there is no other compelling reason for it to be decided at trial,” the judge said in a written ruling.

The landfill contains more than 1.4 million tonnes of waste, but Mr Howells said he had narrowed down the hard disk site to an area of ​​100,000 tonnes.

Mr Howells predicted that by next year, the bitcoin on his hard drive could be worth £1bn.

He told BBC Wales outside a court hearing in Cardiff last December that he believed in his case and was prepared to take it to the High Court.