Computer engineer proposes innovative plan to recover his 765 million dollars in buried Bitcoin.
Twelve years have passed, and he is still looking for ways to recover his lost Bitcoin.
In a landfill located in Wales, United Kingdom, there is a hard drive containing Bitcoin valued at approximately $765 million, according to information provided by computer engineer James Howells. Howells, who accidentally disposed of the smartphone-sized device in 2013, has faced the refusal of his local council to allow him access to the dump site to search for his hard drive, citing environmental concerns and disputes over the ownership of the device now that it has become trash.
Recently, the situation took an unexpected turn as Newport Council announced its plans to close the landfill in the next 12 months, with the goal of transforming it into a solar farm intended to power the council's new garbage trucks. This decision has inspired Howells with a new idea to try to recover his prized hard drive. “I could potentially be interested in buying the landfill site,” he commented, indicating that he has discussed this option with investment partners and that it remains a very real possibility.
The site is filled with over 1.4 million tons of waste, and Howells estimates that the hard drive is located in an area containing about 100,000 tons. To locate it and recover his 8,000 Bitcoins, he plans to assemble a team of human sorters, robot dogs, and a machine powered by artificial intelligence capable of identifying a hard drive as it moves along a conveyor belt. However, if the drive has been damaged, it may be that he will never recover his investment.
If the attempt is successful, Howells has stated that he would allocate approximately 30% of the Bitcoins to himself, another 30% to the recovery team, another 30% to the investors, and the remainder would be shared among local causes and residents of Newport. In 2020, it was already reported about Howells' lost hard drive when it was estimated that the Bitcoin it contained was worth $75 million, a figure significantly lower than the current estimate.
On the other hand, Howells has mentioned that he avoids thinking too much about what he could do with his share of the fortune if he manages to recover it, “otherwise you would go crazy thinking about it.”