Summary
James Howells lost 8,000 Bitcoins worth over £500 million when he accidentally threw away a hard drive containing his private key.
He has been trying to retrieve the hard drive from a Newport landfill for over a decade, but the council has refused to allow him access.
Howells is now suing the council for £495 million in damages.
Makes me remember the guy buying pizza for like 35.000 Bitcoins.
He was always so angry because people thought he only bought one (1) pizza, but it was actually several pizza.
He got over it and said he’d probably had cashed out at btc at 1 dollar and flamed it all.
This is sad, and I can see why they’re telling him no.
Because chances of finding it are slim, and chances of finding him if he shovels himself into some kinda garbage-pile-sinkhole void are also probably pretty slim!
I feel this way about 3 binders of mint never-played OG Pokemon cards I collected as a kid. I remember them exactly. Had my name on the cover with stickers and everything. The box just disappeared when I had to move numerous times in a short period.
I often rack my brain and curse the loss, especially because right now I’m your statistical millennial struggling to make money appear. It would’ve been worth a lot. I kinda hate the idea of trading cards these days because of it lol.
(To be fair, I just hate speculative markets, the hobby that inevitably overtakes every other hobby like a Tyranid swarm)
But at this point, this poor guy seems utterly consumed by his own greed.
In the words of Sean Connery as Dr. Jones Sr. in “The Last Crusade”:
“Lehttit goh, Shon.”
Money is the root of all evil. Perhaps our mistake is not losing the rest of Bitcoin unrecoverable in a nameless landfill…
I think it also might scream volumes about our society, that someone is driven to obsessive madness over the value of an encased metallic platter full of code nobody can make tangible use of. People must chase after imaginary riches to feel secure.
This dude is a total grifter, he knows they would never find it and if they did it wouldn’t be readable, so he uses other peoples fear of missing out to fund his “fight” with the council
I wouldn’t be surprised if that box didn’t even make it to the dump. That kinda thing often ends up in the back of someone’s truck until shift is over
“alright, here’s a shovel, get to it.”
James was then suddenly aware of how big a landfill really was.
“No, you can’t use a bobcat.”
