After his hard drive containing the private key controlling 8,000 BTC accidentally ended up in the landfill in 2013, James Howells tried to get permission to conduct excavations. Faced with the impasse, he has now filed a complaint, with the aim of recovering the equivalent of 500 million dollars.
James Howells wants to recover a disk containing the private key of 8,000 bitcoins from a landfill
In August 2013, due to a misunderstanding with the person who shared his life at the time, James Howells, a resident of Newport in Wales, saw his hard drive containing a private key controlling 8,000 bitcoins (BTC) go to the landfill.
At the time, BTC was worth just over $100 each. However, the 8,000 units mined by the person concerned already represented a more than adequate sum, namely at least 840,000 dollars.
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After 11 years of negotiations with the city council, James Howells has still not managed to obtain authorization to carry out excavations, in the hope of finding the precious hard drive. Now that the latter is worth more than 500 million dollars, considering the price of Bitcoin at the time of writing these lines, the Welshman finally filed a complaint asking for damages to try to move the case forward.
As he explained to the media WalesOnline, the objective here is more of a means of “put pressure“, so as to dissuade the municipal council from engaging in a legal battle. Besides, he promises 10% of these famous BTC to the municipality as a rewardif ever they were to find a compromise.
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Extensive research work
As for the excavations, the manager of the landfill at the time claims to know exactly in which area said hard drive is located, while the work could last from 18 to 36 months followed by a year of restoration and cost 10 million of pounds sterling.
In 2022, the idea of using robots from Boston Dynamics had even been studied.
Even if the object were to be found, provided that such a project is authorized one day, it would still have to be functional. According to the team surrounding James Howells, there would be an 80% chance that the data contained in the hard drive will still be usable.
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In the event of a favorable outcome, the interested party would recover 30% of the bitcoins controlled by the famous private key, taking into account the agreements made with the investors who finance their project.
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Source: WalesOnline
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Since 2021, I have devoted my free time to seriously educating myself on cryptocurrencies in order to acquire maximum knowledge and credibility. I often have the opportunity to conduct interviews with influential figures in the blockchain industry. I also conduct in-depth analyzes on Web3 themes to offer exclusive content to Cryptoast readers.
Vincent Maire
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