In brief: James Howells, the man who has spent more than a decade trying to recover a hard drive containing more than $750 million worth of Bitcoin from a landfill, is not giving up on his quest for fortune. After a judge threw out his request to dig at the site last month, Howells is now considering buying the facility, which is due to be closed.
Howells sued the city of Newport, Wales, in October 2024 for the right to search the landfill or pay him £495 million ($607 million) in compensation. He claimed in court that he has a “finely tuned plan” to recover the component, and that its position has been narrowed down to a small area.
Unfortunately for the computer engineer, a High Court judge dismissed the case in January, saying there were no “reasonable grounds” for bringing the case and “no realistic prospect” of succeeding at a full trial. Howells said he wants to appeal the decision.
Since then, Newport council has announced plans to close and cap the site in the 2025-26 financial year. It has secured planning permission to turn part of the land into a solar farm, which is expected to power the council’s new garbage trucks.
Howells said that “The council planning on closing the landfill so soon is quite a surprise, especially since it claimed at the High Court that closing the landfill to allow me to search would have a huge detrimental impact on the people of Newport, whilst at the same time they were planning to close the landfill anyway.”
Howells went on to say that he expected the landfill to be closed in the future as it’s 80% to 90% full. He added that if Newport city council was willing, he would be interested in purchasing the land “as is.” Howells added that he has discussed the option with investment partners and a potential bid is “very much on the table.”
The landfill holds more than 1.4 million tons of waste. Howells previously claimed to have narrowed the drive’s location down to a section containing 100,000 tons. He believes the Bitcoin on the drive will be worth £1 billion ($1.2 billion) next year.
In 2013, Howells had two 2.5-inch hard drives stored in a drawer, one of which he intended to get rid of and another that had a digital wallet with 7,500 – 8,000 Bitcoin on it. He put the drive containing the Bitcoin in a black trash bag during an office sort-out and left it in the hall of his house. His partner assumed it was there to be thrown away, so she took the bag to the local landfill, where it’s been ever since.
When asked why he doesn’t just give up on his quest, especially as the data on the drive could be inaccessible after more than a decade of sitting under a pile of rotting garbage, Howells said he could “spend the rest of my life working nine to five and thinking about [the fortune] every day,” so he might as well keep trying to recover it.