Man loses battle to recover R14B Bitcoin.

According to BBC News, James Howells, a man from the UK whose ex-partner disposed of his Bitcoin hard drive, which was valued at about £598 million (R13.95 billion), has had his lawsuit against a council to retrieve the hard drive from a landfill dismissed.

The case was removed from the roll by Judge Keyser KC. Howells had tried to claim for compensation of £495 million (R11.55 billion) or access to the landfill.

In 2013, the hard drive that held a Bitcoin wallet was disposed of. The judge, however, determined that the claim lacked reasonable grounds and that a full trial was unlikely to result in a successful outcome.

Howells expressed his “extreme displeasure” with the result. He claimed he had no chance to tell his experience or “for justice in any shape or form” because the matter was dismissed at the initial hearing.

He went on to say that for the previous 12 years, he had made numerous attempts to interact with the Newport City Council.

Howells was quoted by BBC News as saying, “It’s not about greed, I’m happy to share the proceeds but nobody in a position of power will have a decent conversation with me.”

Howells was one of the first people to use and mine Bitcoin. Before forgetting about it and his companion discarding it, he mined the cryptocurrency in his misplaced wallet in 2009.

He assembled a team of professionals to try to retrieve and gain access to the lost hard drive after noticing the spike in the value of the missing digital wallet last year.

With 7,500 Bitcoin, Howells values the wallet at £598 million (R13.95 billion), with the potential to reach £819 million (R19.11 billion) by 2025.

He claimed to have repeatedly requested authorization to enter the website and to have promised the council a 10% cut of the stolen Bitcoin in exchange for its recovery.

In 2024, the value of Bitcoin increased by more than 80%.

Howells stated that he had limited the hard drive’s location to a location that could accommodate 100,000 tonnes of garbage, even though the landfill can hold over 1.4 million tonnes.

James Goudie KC, the council’s attorney, countered that the hard drive had legally become the council’s property when it entered the landfill due to existing laws.

Any attempt to excavate the landfill to find the hard drive would be prohibited by environmental licenses, he added.

In August 2021, an electronic engineer from Pretoria told MyBroadband about his misplaced Bitcoin, despite the fact that the fortune was much smaller.

About 14 years ago, when Bitcoin was just worth a few cents, he constructed a gaming PC and used it to create 20 of the cryptocurrency.

He was a tech-savvy teen who, after learning about the cryptocurrency online in seventh grade, began mining it.

He claimed to have used the initial Bitcoin wallet software, which needed a password and wallet key to access.

He remembered using one of the earliest Nvidia GPU command-line miners.

“I can’t recall how long I mined, but it was straight for a few weeks to a couple of months,” he remarked.

He used the arrangement to mine about 20 Bitcoin. The value of Bitcoin increased from $0.0008 to $0.08 throughout that year.

He finally misplaced his Bitcoin wallet’s key and password after growing disinterested in the endeavor.

At today’s values, the Bitcoin he mined would be about R37 million.

FAQ

What happened in James Howells' lawsuit against the Newport City Council?

James Howells attempted to sue the Newport City Council to retrieve a Bitcoin hard drive valued at over £598 million (R13.95 billion) from a landfill. However, his lawsuit was dismissed by Judge Keyser KC, who found that the claim lacked reasonable grounds.

How did James Howells lose access to his Bitcoin?

In 2013, Howells misplaced a hard drive containing a Bitcoin wallet, which held 7,500 Bitcoins. His ex-partner accidentally disposed of the hard drive, and despite years of attempts to recover it, Howells was unsuccessful in his efforts.

Why is the Bitcoin wallet valuable?

The Bitcoin wallet holds 7,500 Bitcoins, which Howells originally mined in 2009. With the recent surge in Bitcoin’s value, the wallet is estimated to be worth £598 million (R13.95 billion), and could potentially reach £819 million (R19.11 billion) by 2025.

What were the legal challenges surrounding the recovery of the hard drive?

The Newport City Council argued that the hard drive legally became their property when it was deposited in the landfill. Additionally, environmental licenses prevent excavation of the landfill, making recovery impossible without council approval.

Is James Howells the only person to lose valuable Bitcoin?

No, James Howells is not alone in losing Bitcoin. For example, a Pretoria-based engineer mined 20 Bitcoins back when the currency was worth only a few cents. However, he lost access to his wallet’s key and password, and at today’s values, his Bitcoins would be worth R37 million.