James Howells, a Newport IT engineer, is suing Newport City Council for £495 million (approximately $647 million) after accidentally discarding a hard drive containing 8,000 Bitcoin.
The 39-year-old Howells claims the council has continuously blocked his efforts to retrieve the drive from a local landfill, where it has remained buried since 2013.
The value of the Bitcoin, which was worth around £1 million at the time it was lost, has now surged to nearly half a billion pounds. Howells, who has spent over a decade attempting to recover the drive, has assembled a team of experts and is offering the council 10% of the Bitcoin’s value if they agree to the excavation.
Howell’s LinkedIn describes him as a “Former IT systems engineer and project manager proficient in Cryptocurrency and Blockchain technology, Business IT systems, Encrypted radio communications, Secure networking, Command and control systems, Emergency telecom networks, Data-centre infrastructure, Servers, Laptops, Desktops, Mobile devices, Hubs, Switches, Routers, Firewalls and most things in between.
Might know a thing or two about landfills.”
Source: LinkedIn
An Early Bitcoin Miner
Howells, who became one of the early Bitcoin miners in 2009, lost access to his cryptocurrency after mistakenly throwing away the hard drive during a household clearout. In August 2013, he accidentally placed the hard drive containing the private key to his Bitcoin in a bin bag, which was taken to Newport’s recycling center.
Despite Howells’ offers to cover the cost of the excavation, Newport City Council has repeatedly rejected the request, citing environmental concerns. The landfill, which has breached environmental permits in the past due to high levels of asbestos, arsenic, and methane, is considered too dangerous to excavate without harming the surrounding area, according to the council.
Howells’ legal team argues that modern technology, including AI-assisted search tools, could recover the hard drive safely. They point to other successful landfill redevelopment projects, asserting that the excavation could even help modernize Newport’s waste management practices.
Howells is set to appear in court in December, where he hopes to compel the council to allow the dig. He has pledged to pursue the case through all levels of the UK legal system if necessary, saying, “Until the court tells me ‘no,’ I’m not giving up.”
In response, Newport City Council has called the court claim “weak” and maintains that excavation is not feasible under their environmental permits.
The case highlights a growing tension between Howells’ vision of recovery and potential wealth and the council’s environmental and legal concerns over the risks of the excavation.
It also highlights the difficulty of keeping digital assets safe and secure.
