A British man's cryptocurrency fortune worth $750 million will remain forever buried as local authorities prepare to permanently seal a Welsh landfill site where his Bitcoin hard drive was accidentally thrown away.
James Howells from Newport, Wales, lost his hard drive containing 7,500 bitcoins in the early days of cryptocurrency. The device ended up in a local landfill site that has been operating since the early 2000s. At current market rates, the lost digital assets would be valued at approximately $750 million (£620 million).
Despite multiple attempts to gain access to the site and recover his lost fortune, including legal action against the Newport council, Howells has been unsuccessful in his quest. The council has consistently denied his requests to search the landfill.
The situation has now reached a point of no return, as the council plans to permanently cap and close the landfill site in 2025-26. This closure will eliminate any remaining possibility of recovering the lost hard drive.
In an environmentally conscious move, the council intends to repurpose part of the sealed landfill area for a solar farm. This renewable energy installation will power the council's expanding fleet of electric garbage collection vehicles as they move away from diesel-powered trucks.
For Howells, this development marks the final chapter in his decade-long struggle to reclaim his lost cryptocurrency fortune, which will remain buried beneath tons of waste as the site transforms into a green energy facility.