British man sues council for $647M over lost Bitcoin in landfill
2024-10-12

James Howells, an IT engineer from Newport, is suing Newport City Council in the United Kingdom for 495 million British pounds (around $647 million) in damages after accidentally discarding a hard drive containing 8,000 Bitcoin.
According to WalesOnline, Howells has made numerous attempts to retrieve the drive from the local landfill but has met resistance from the council, which has repeatedly denied his requests to excavate the site.
He mistakenly threw out the hard drive containing Bitcoin BTCUSD in 2013 during a household clearout, now worth almost half a billion pounds.
A war of attrition
Howells has attempted to recover the lost hard drive for over a decade after mistakenly placing it in a bin liner, which ended up in a recycling center. 
In 2013, the value of his 8,000 BTC was around 1 million pounds (around $1.3 million).
Howells has assembled a team of legal experts to file the court claim, which is set to be heard in December. 
Council rejection to excavate 
Despite Howells’ offering to give the council 10% of the recovered BTC value if the hard drive is found, Newport City Council has consistently opposed the excavation request, citing environmental concerns.
The landfill in question has been flagged for breaches of its environmental permit, including elevated levels of asbestos, arsenic and methane. 
The council argues that digging up the site could harm the surrounding area and claims its operation follows strict monitoring protocols.
Robots, garbage, BTC…oh my
In 2022, Howells reportedly pitched an $11 million idea to locate and recover the lost hard drive, potentially surrounded by 110,000 tonnes of garbage. 
The plan is active and would involve no cost to the council. Still, Newport City Council remains firm in its decision to refuse, questioning the legality and feasibility of Howells’ claims.
To keep BTC safe, it’s important to store hardware wallets safely, keep private keys secure offline, and back up recovery phrases in multiple secure locations for extra security. 