British man goes to stunning lengths to retrieve $800 million Bitcoin hard drive from landfill

A man is upping the ante in his ongoing quest to retrieve a hard drive containing a discarded bitcoin key worth approximately $800 million by proposing to buy a landfill in Great Britain to search for the wallet before it shuts down.

James Howells has been appealing to the Newport City Council in South Wales to allow him access to the landfill where the hard drive was mistakenly discarded in 2013, as reported by the New York Times.

“Seems like a better plan for me and the city,” Howells told the newspaper, envisioning clearing out the waste to transform the site into a park or potentially a dump site again. “The landfill gets cleaned. I get to dig for my hard drive.”

Previously, he offered to cover the costs of the excavation process and share 25% of the recovered Bitcoin with the Newport City Council. However, a judge dismissed his claim, citing lack of reasonable grounds and realistic prospects of success in a full trial.

Now, the city plans to permanently close the landfill.

Howells, a computer science analyst, accidentally discarded the hard drive while cleaning out his office in 2013. A misunderstanding with his former partner resulted in the drive being taken to the landfill, where it contained the only copy of his 51-character private key for Bitcoin wallets.

Despite his efforts, the Newport City Council believes the chances of Howells retrieving the 12-year-old wallet are slim.

“This needle is very, very, very valuable — $800 million,” Howells said, “which means I’m willing to search every piece of hay in order to find the needle.”