$716M in Bitcoin Sitting in Landfill: Legal Battle Ensues

In general, cryptocurrency is considered more secure than physical cash, credit cards, and other forms of traditional money. The reason for this is because digital money is used in collaboration with blockchain technology, which makes it extremely difficult for nefarious actors to forge currency, steal money, or falsify transactions.

One thing that cryptocurrency does share in common with other forms of money, though, is the potential to get lost.

Sometimes, the extreme security of the blockchain and cryptocurrency can make it extremely difficult for rightful owners to claim and prove ownership of their lost digital currency. For instance, if you lose your specific blockchain security code, then you could lose access to your digital money.

One Welsh resident, James Howells, experienced this firsthand when he lost his Bitcoin fortune nearly a decade ago. According to Howells, he was an early Bitcoin investor. Back in 2009, he rightfully owned over 8,000 Bitcoin that he mined on a specific hard drive. Things went south, however, when his former romantic partner disposed of a hard drive containing permissions and access to those Bitcoins in 2013. At that time, Bitcoins were far less valuable, at only $1 per token.

Howells, at the time, may have taken the $8,000 as a total loss, but over time, the value of those Bitcoins skyrocketed. In today’s world, those Bitcoins are now worth over $716 million.

That said, there is a hard drive in a landfill that’s worth over $716 million. Knowing this, Howells has begged the Newport City Council, his local government authority, to give him permission to search through the landfill. His requests have repeatedly been denied, however, because of the environmental risks associated with going through a decade’s worth of trash.

Howell is so determined that he has even offered to pay over $11 million of his earnings and an additional 10% to the council to approve his requests. They are unwilling to be bought.

Now, Howell has filed a lawsuit against the Newport City Counsel for their refusal to grant him permission to dig through the landfill. While it remains unclear what will happen in this case, there’s one thing that we can all learn from Howells’ experience. If you own any digital currency, then you need to safeguard it.

Have You Lost Access to Your Bitcoins?

Losing access to your Bitcoins or digital wallet can immediately invoke panic. Like Howells, you don’t want to feel like your fortune is literally in the landfill.

Here at Bitcoin Recovery Co, our mission is to help clients regain access to digital wallets, cryptocurrency, or lost Bitcoins. So far, we’ve successfully recovered over 2,000 Bitcoins back to their rightful owners. We’ve helped over 100 customers and resolved over 30 complex cases.

First, we’ll do a comprehensive analysis of your situation to identify obstacles, determine what’s happened, and identify what’s preventing access to your coins. Next, we’ll determine how likely you are to recover the digital money based on your circumstances. During this process, we partner with the Bukh Law Firm to keep your coins safe. Finally, we’ll execute our best recovery efforts to pursue your lost digital assets.

Start your recovery now by getting in touch with our team.