Judge throws out Brit’s attempt to recover £600 million in bitcoin from landfill: BBC
2025-01-09
Category: None

UK Judge Andrew John Keyser KC has thrown out an attempt by James Howells to sue his local council to recover a hard drive from a rubbish tip that he claims contains access to around £600 million ($739 million) in bitcoin, the BBC reported.
Howells argued his former partner mistakenly threw out the hard drive containing a Bitcoin wallet in 2013 and took legal action to access the landfill in South Wales or pursue £495 million ($609 million) in compensation from Newport City Council.
The council urged the High Court judge to strike out the legal action at a hearing in December, arguing that existing laws meant the device had become its property once it entered the landfill and environmental permits forbade its excavation.
During that December hearing, the court learned that Howells, an early Bitcoin adopter, mined over 7,500 BTC in 2009 when it held little value. As the cryptocurrency's worth skyrocketed, he organized a team of experts to locate and recover the accidentally discarded hard drive and repeatedly sought permission from the council to access the landfill, even offering it a share of the bitcoin if recovered. While the site holds more than 1.4 million tonnes of waste, Howells believes he has narrowed the location down to an area of 100,000 tonnes.
‘No reasonable grounds’
However, in a written judgment on Thursday, Judge Keyser KC stated there were "no reasonable grounds" for bringing the claim and "no realistic prospect of succeeding if it went to trial and that there is no other compelling reason why it should be disposed of at trial."
Following bitcoin’s substantial rise toward the $100,000 level over the past year, Howells speculated that the inaccessible funds could be worth over £1 billion ($1.2 billion) by 2026 and previously told the BBC he was willing to take the case to the Supreme Court. However, with his prospects of recovery depleting, the lost bitcoin in question likely remains a gift to the broader users of the network.
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