Landfill With UK Bitcoin Hard Drive Set to Close Forever

James Howells was just your ordinary UK citizen years ago, but now, his unique story revolving around Bitcoin has garnered him international attention and sympathy. It also serves as an important warning for those interested in investing in digital currencies.

Over the past decade, Howells has been in a battle with local government agencies, environmental protection groups, and employees at a local landfill in an attempt to recover a lost hard drive.

According to Howells, the hard drive contains the specific digital keys he needs to access his online Bitcoin wallet. This wallet, he says, contains around 8,000 Bitcoins. As of early 2025, the Bitcoin stored in this specific wallet is estimated to be worth $780 million. Unfortunately, that hard drive is believed to have been thrown away and sent to a landfill accidentally.

Without the digital key on the hard drive, Howells has not been able to access his wallet. There are currently no copies of the keys in existence, and Howells’ attempts to recover access in other technical ways have all fallen flat.

This year’s long situation has been battled out in court, with the High Court of Newport ultimately ruling that allowing Howells to dig through the landfill could have very significant negative impacts on the surrounding environment. It seems that Howells won’t have another opportunity to continue pleading with the courts, though, as the landfill is set to shut down within the next two years.

The landfill has been operating since the early 2000s.

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