A prolonged legal battle over a discarded hard drive containing Bitcoin
The hard drive, which holds 8,000 Bitcoin worth over $750 million, was mistakenly thrown out in 2013 and has been buried in a landfill.
Howells had repeatedly sought permission from Newport City Council to excavate the landfill by offering to share 10% of any recovered funds with the council and local residents. He even proposed a £10 million ($12.3 million) recovery project backed by investors.
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Despite these offers, the council consistently denied his requests due to risks to the environment and breaches of local permits.
In Howells’ most recent legal attempt, he asked the court for access to the landfill or $608 million in damages. However, the council argued that the hard drive became the landfill’s property once it entered the site and maintained that excavation would cause serious environmental harm.
Judge Keyser KC dismissed the case, stating it had “no realistic prospect” of succeeding at trial. The judge ruled that the council’s ownership of the landfill and its environmental permit fully justified their refusal to allow excavation.
Following the ruling, Howells expressed frustration with what he called an unjust legal system. He said:
This ruling has taken everything from me and left me with nothing.
However, he noted that the court did not dispute his ownership of the Bitcoin, which he believes could help in future efforts.
As James Howells’ legal battle concludes, Montenegro’s Constitutional Court recently rejected Terraform Labs co-founder Do Kwon’s extradition appeal. What led to the decision? Read the full story.
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