James Howells is convinced his staggering fortune is waiting to be found. (Image: SWNS / Getty)
A man says a hard drive loaded with that was thrown away by mistake is now worth over £500million.
James Howells, 39, bought the when was in its infancy, eventually collecting some 8,000 coins in total.
The private key used to access the coins was stored on his computer’s hard drive, which ended up sitting in a drawer for years after he upgraded his PC.
In 2013, Howells’ former partner accidentally threw the hard drive away, apparently unaware of its potential value, he claims. He has since spent over a decade trying to get it back.
He’s convinced that the hard drive has been hiding somewhere among the piles of rubbish at a landfill in Newport, , ever since.
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Aerial view of a Newport Council landfill site on March 18, 2022 (Image: Getty)
The coins were worth about £4m when the key was lost, Howells says, but following a major surge in Bitcoin’s value he believes they are now worth up to over £569m.
He believes that, by next year, the coins could be worth £1billion, and has vowed to invest back into the area if he manages to get hold of the fortune.
Howells has petitioned Newport council on a number of occasions for permission to access the Docksway Landfill and find it, but the council has so far refused.
It previously said it would not be possible under its licencing permit. The site holds more than 1.4 m tonnes of waste and the council said that “excavation itself would have a huge environmental impact on the surrounding area”, as per .
[REPORT]
Howells thinks the hardrive could soon be worth £1billion. (Image: SWNS)
Howells announced that he was suing the council for £495,314,800 last month. (Image: SWNS)
Last month, Howells announced that he was suing the council for £495,314,800 in damages, alleging that the local authority was “withholding my property without my consent” and “not allowing me to search for it”.
“The last time we put an offer to them to meet, it was worth £500m, a few weeks ago, and they refused that,” he said at the time.
Howells is confident his team have the means to locate the hard drive, and have established a search area of some 100,000 tonnes.
“I am still willing to avert court action and have a sensible and amicable conversation with Newport City Council, but there has to be no messing around. They have to come and speak to me,” he said.
A spokesperson for the council said: “Mr. Howells has brought a civil claim against the council for a sum in the region of £0.5bn.
“The claim has no merit, and the council is vigorously resisting it.”