Summary
James Howells lost 8,000 Bitcoins worth over £500 million when he accidentally threw away a hard drive containing his private key.
He has been trying to retrieve the hard drive from a Newport landfill for over a decade, but the council has refused to allow him access.
Howells is now suing the council for £495 million in damages.
This is sad, and I can see why they’re telling him no.
Because chances of finding it are slim, and chances of finding him if he shovels himself into some kinda garbage-pile-sinkhole void are also probably pretty slim!
I feel this way about 3 binders of mint never-played OG Pokemon cards I collected as a kid. I remember them exactly. Had my name on the cover with stickers and everything. The box just disappeared when I had to move numerous times in a short period.
I often rack my brain and curse the loss, especially because right now I’m your statistical millennial struggling to make money appear. It would’ve been worth a lot. I kinda hate the idea of trading cards these days because of it lol.
(To be fair, I just hate speculative markets, the hobby that inevitably overtakes every other hobby like a Tyranid swarm)
But at this point, this poor guy seems utterly consumed by his own greed.
In the words of Sean Connery as Dr. Jones Sr. in “The Last Crusade”:
“Lehttit goh, Shon.”
Money is the root of all evil. Perhaps our mistake is not losing the rest of Bitcoin unrecoverable in a nameless landfill…
I think it also might scream volumes about our society, that someone is driven to obsessive madness over the value of an encased metallic platter full of code nobody can make tangible use of. People must chase after imaginary riches to feel secure.
Makes me remember the guy buying pizza for like 35.000 Bitcoins.
He was always so angry because people thought he only bought one (1) pizza, but it was actually several pizza.
He got over it and said he’d probably had cashed out at btc at 1 dollar and flamed it all.
This dude is a total grifter, he knows they would never find it and if they did it wouldn’t be readable, so he uses other peoples fear of missing out to fund his “fight” with the council
It’s been over 10 years. Even if he found it, what is the likelihood any data could still be retrieved from a hard drive that’s been buried in landfill for that long?
Probably why he is suing for damages now instead of access.
Pretty good actually. But the odds of finding it are basically nil. A needle in a haystack would actually be easier.
He just needs to drag an incredibly powerful magnet through the landfill and sort through the metal that sticks to it. Piece of cake.
(TINK!) “Reel it in!!”
“Soooo do you want the good news or the bad news…?”
Lol I think that would also wipe the HDD
That’s the joke.
With headlines like this, it’s always important to keep in mind that bitcoin is such a thinly traded (and largely artificial) market that actually trying to sell 8,000 Btc for real dollars/pounds would instantly and catastrophically crash the price.
I agree with everything you said but 8000 bitcoin won’t move the price much. We’ve seen management firms buying hundreds of millions worth of bitcoins
Different dynamics. Buys require sellers, of which there are a fair amount (though few enough still that large purchases absolutely do shift the price significantly; we’ve seen multiple instances of Tether bringing the price up by 20% or more for the cost of billion newly minted USDT). Sells require buyers, which are in very short supply.
Got it thank you for the explanation
Yes and no.
The ETF changed the dynamics of BTC a little.
Now there’s an introductory price for Bitcoin once it hit the stock market, and there’s interest and reason for holders to not want it to go lower than that price. $55k thereabouts is when the ETF began.
Also, people are using Bitcoin like an index fund. They get paid, they invest. Every paycheck.
It’s an odd thing to watch. I don’t see another huge crash, but I don’t see miracles, either. BTC has no use as a fast method of payment. Store-of-value is all it has.
Imagine what focusing on this does to your life
My ex wife’s mother threw out a box of my stuff with a thumb drive containing about 300 bitcoin.
At the time I misplaced the thumbdrive it was only a couple hundred bucks I was out.
I chuckle at her burning in hell from time to time
You would have sold the Bitcoin long before it was as valuable as it is today like almost everyone that’s had Bitcoin over the years.
FALSE, I would have bought drugs with the bitcoin had I remembered I had it. Ultimately I just forgot about the thumb drive and it sat in a box of our stuff. I was reminded of its existence years later when it was worth a lot.
She chucked it out of spite because the stuff was identified as mine, nasty hobbit she was. Idk when she chucked it or its value but I do know had she not chucked it I’d also probably have bought drugs with the bitcoin.
He can’t really prove it even exists.
Yeah, the only way to prove it’s his is with that key. That’s kind of the point of crypto in the first place.
Imagine if he gave up the key to prove it only for someone else to already have found the HDD and uses the key.
The bitcoin? It doesn’t.
Functionally, it doesn’t, and it’s only a function to begin with.
“Accidentally threw it away” really sounds more like “threw it away, didn’t have a backup, he now regrets throwing it away”.
Dread to think what his solicitor is making by allowing this delusion to continue (unless he’s representing himself in which case…fair enough I suppose). I’ve been reading about this man for years it seems like.
“alright, here’s a shovel, get to it.”
James was then suddenly aware of how big a landfill really was.
“No, you can’t use a bobcat.”
They’re not letting him do it even with a shovel. It’s a pointless endeavour that will only create disruptions at the dump, risk his life and probably public safety.
I pity the guy somewhat. It would be absolute gut wrenching knowing you’ve lost a life changing amount of money. But this reeks of desperation and taking out your anger on somebody else for your own mistake. Now he’s suing the council after failing to bribe them with something that may or may not be recoverable. And if successful, lines his own pockets at the expense of his community’s.
Accept the expensive life lesson for what it is and move on… It sucks but it’s your own flaming fault and nobody owes you a thing.
Story like this could’ve got him free pints from strangers in pubs till he dies if he acted with more ‘grace’
It’s the thought that he could have owned the whole town and all the pubs and the next 3 towns over as well that keeps him from realizing that.
Idk if he will ever let it go at this point. I feel like I would have mostly given up after a few years and then after 5+ years it’s just another good story. I don’t feel bad about the time I almost won the lottery. Like I bought the ticket and scratched it and everything. I didn’t win but I was really close. Doesn’t keep me up at night.
Lol not from me
I’ve heard about this guy before but I didn’t realise it was already worth so much at the time he lost it. I do feel sorry for him as it must suck to know you lost that much money from a simple mistake
reverse money printer go rbbbbbbbbbb
Least delusional crypto bro
I wouldn’t be surprised if that box didn’t even make it to the dump. That kinda thing often ends up in the back of someone’s truck until shift is over
Something to note is the level of environmental damage attempting to recover this could cause. It’s not worth a “chance” for causing that damage.
