Judge stops man’s search for $1.2 billion in buried Bitcoin | Information age
James Howells says he will continue his work to recover the missing 8,000 bitcoins. Picture: James Howells/Supplied
A British judge has rejected a man’s desire to extract a hard drive containing the key to a Bitcoin fortune worth around $1.2bn (£600m), which is believed to be lying in a landfill.
James Howells, a computer expert and early Bitcoin miner, told the court last week that in 2013, his ex-girlfriend accidentally threw away the hard drive, which allegedly contained the private key to about 8,000 bitcoins.
Howells argued that the device had been sitting in a landfill in the Welsh city of Newport for more than a decade, and asked for the city council to either hand over the drive or allow a team of experts to excavate the landfill to find it.
However, Newport City Council successfully quashed Howell’s claim after Supreme Court Justice Keyser KC said there were “no reasonable grounds” for the case to be brought forward.
“I also believe that the lawsuit would have no realistic prospect of success if it went to trial,” Kiser wrote in a ruling released Thursday.
A billion dollar needle in a haystack
Talk to Information ageHowells detailed a decade-long saga of pleading with the Newport City Council to cooperate in recovery efforts, while watching the value of Bitcoin gradually rise.
“It was daily bloody torture, to be honest with you,” he said.
Howells recounted that in November 2013 — about three months after the hard drive was lost, a period when Bitcoin was skyrocketing. Historic gain In terms of value – he visited the landfill site and raised the issue with the head of operations.
“I explained the situation to him briefly; there was 10 million pounds [worth of Bitcoin, at that time] “On the hard drive there,” Howells said.
“He was an old guy and had no artistic background, so you can imagine how that happened.
“However, he took me seriously.”
Docksway landfill in Newport, Wales, where a hard drive was buried in 2013. Image: Stantec / Supplied
Although excavation efforts were possible in some police investigations, Howells was told that his request was “a very difficult matter” and would have to be taken to the Newport City Council — which “simply did not want to know,” according to Howells.
He said that although he had approached several council leaders over the years — offering them insurance, outside financing and expert advice — his efforts to claw back the money were repeatedly rebuffed.
“This has been the case from 2013, until 2024,” Howells said.
“The last option, after a long time, was to pursue legal action.”
Who owns the hard drive?
Howells told the court that during an office clean-out in 2013, the hard drive was mistaken for a blank drive, placed in some rubbish bags, and later brought to the party by Howells’ former partner.
While Howells stressed that the hard drive had been taken from his home without his permission or consent, Justice Keyser KC ultimately accepted the council’s argument that he had the actual hard drive in the landfill.
Ashamed of the rights to the hard drive, Howells sought ownership of the data itself – a move he said would enable him Token His dormant Bitcoin and eventually profit from its value.
Howells said using some colorful language Information age And that although the Newport City Council was “happy” for him to confirm his ownership of Bitcoin, the judge refused to sign off on such an action.
“They gave me something and then snatched it up at the last minute,” Howells said.
Court documents Instead, Howells sought “compensation equivalent to the value of the bitcoin to which he no longer has access”, although this was also rejected.
When asked what he would do after the court result, Howells said he would have to “reevaluate over the next few weeks.”
“The story has come to an end now, but Bitcoin is still there, and the price will continue to rise,” he said.
“I’ll try to come up with something – I’ll never give up.”
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