UK man sues council after it denied requests to dig for lost Bitcoin hard drive in landfill

• James Howell has been trying to get his lost hard drive back for 10 years
• Howell mined 8,000 Bitcoin on his laptop after learning about Bitcoin in 2009
• The council have denied Howell’s requests to dig due to “environmental concerns”

A 39-year-old man is suing Newport City Council for $646 million (£495,314,800 million) in damages after losing his hard drive at a recycling center containing 8,000 Bitcoin.

James Howell accidentally threw out his hard drive in 2013 during a household clearout. According to WalesOnline, Howell had two hard drives of the same size. One was blank, while the other contained his Bitcoin.

He mistakenly put the one containing the Bitcoin into a black bin bag, which his then-girlfriend took to the tip. At the time of his loss, his Bitcoin was worth around $1.3 million (£1 million). However, within three months, their value had risen to around $11.7 million (£9 million).

Howell has reached an agreement, leaving him with 30% of his Bitcoin if the hard drive is found. The remaining would be split between his backers, the recovery team, and the council.

Howell states that despite meeting a representative of the council in 2013, he’s been “largely ignored.”

“I’m still allocating 10% of the value for the council even though they have been problematic throughout,” he said. “That would be £41m based on today’s rate but in the future, it could be hundreds of millions.”

Environmental concerns

A court filing states that Howell’s hard drive is located in Cell 2- Area 2 of the Docksway landfill.

If the hard drive is located, the dig would take around 18 to 36 months followed by 12 months of remediation work. Yet, despite promises to safely excavate the Newport site and to modernize the landfill, the council have rejected Howell’s requests to dig due to “environmental concerns.”

Howell’s lawyers claim that the council have “simply ignored” that 10% of Bitcoin could bring “a huge and desperately needed investment in the local community.”

Lawyers for the council argue that the hard drive belongs to the council because it was dumped at the tip. However, Howell’s lawyers deny this, claiming that the hard drive was never intended to be thrown away.

Howell said he didn’t want to go to court, but “this is the final shot.”

The case is expected to be heard in December.