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He tried to sue the local council for not responding to his requests to search the site, but the case was dismissed by a judge in January.
By Camomile Shumba|Edited by Sheldon Reback
Updated Feb 10, 2025, 3:08 p.m. UTCPublished Feb 10, 2025, 3:07 p.m. UTC
What to know:
A man who says he lost $784 million worth of bitcoin (BTC) in a landfill site is talking to investors about potentially buying the land, the BBC reported on Monday.
“I have discussed this option recently with investment partners and it is very much on the table,” James Howells said, according the BBC.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
Howells said his ex-girlfriend mistakenly threw out a hard drive containing 8,000 bitcoin in the landfill site on Newport’s Docks Way in 2013. Over the last decade he has made requests to Newport Council to try to retrieve it, and said he was largely ignored. Newport Council declined to comment, the BBC said.
He tried to sue the council for 495 million pounds ($646 million), the peak valuation of the bitcoin in early 2024, but his case was dismissed by the judge in January. The authority plans to close the site in the coming financial year and has permission to build a solar power farm on the land.
Camomile Shumba is a CoinDesk regulatory reporter based in the UK. Previously, Shumba interned at Business Insider and Bloomberg. Camomile has featured in Harpers Bazaar, Red, the BBC, Black Ballad, Journalism.co.uk, Cryptopolitan.com and South West Londoner.
Shumba studied politics, philosophy and economics as a combined degree at the University of East Anglia before doing a postgraduate degree in multimedia journalism. While she did her undergraduate degree she had an award-winning radio show on making a difference. She does not currently hold value in any digital currencies or projects.
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