"Need to Find 8,000 Bitcoins"... Update on the Man Who Searched a Landfill for 10 Years

Early Bitcoin Investor with 8,000 Bitcoins
Accidentally Disposed of Hard Drive Over a Decade Ago
Court Blocks Attempt to Access Landfill

James Howells (39), a British IT engineer who accidentally threw away a hard disk drive containing 8,000 Bitcoins, is facing the risk that his efforts over more than 10 years to recover the hard drive will be in vain. On the 11th (local time), Business Insider reported, "British man Howells requested access to the Newport city landfill where the hard drive is buried, but the court dismissed the request on the 9th."

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Howells demanded compensation of ?495 million (approximately 891 billion KRW) if the city council refused to grant legal access to the landfill, but the court reportedly rejected this, stating, "There is no reasonable basis to file a lawsuit."

Howells acquired 8,000 Bitcoins in the early days of Bitcoin mining in 2009, but it is known that he accidentally threw away the hard drive containing the Bitcoins along with the trash in 2013. The hard drive Howells discarded contained an electronic wallet with Bitcoins currently worth over 1 trillion KRW.

After realizing that he had discarded the hard drive, he began tracking it. The hard drive he threw away was already taken by a garbage collection vehicle and is presumed to be buried in a landfill in Newport, Wales, UK. It is known that about 110,000 tons of garbage have accumulated at this landfill. He tried to dig up the hard drive by visiting the landfill himself, but the Newport City Council blocked his efforts by denying permission to access and search the landfill. This is because digging through the landfill could cause the leakage of toxic substances and negatively impact the environment.

Over more than 10 years, Howells repeatedly requested permission from the Newport City Council to access the landfill and even offered to share some of the Bitcoins if found. When this did not work, he requested access permission from the court, but this time the request was dismissed.

However, Howells said, "I gained courage from the fact that the judge recognized the council's physical ownership of the hard disk drive but still said that I am the owner of the Bitcoins," adding, "I will continue to fight in higher courts until I find the Bitcoins."