Inside huge landfill site that may be hiding a £1.5bn Bitcoin fortune on lost hard drive

Early crypto investor James Howells, 38, accidentally threw away 8,000 Bitcoins 10 years ago and is now launching a legal fight to get them back from a council landfill site in South Wales.

The hike in Bitcoin’s value means if James still had his haul, it would be worth £451,765,891 putting him on the super-rich list alongside Hollywood star George Clooney and author Stephen King.

According to James, the price of each coin will rise to $25,000, which would make the hard drive worth £1.5billion. James said: “The council may be happy to leave that in a landfill but I’m not.”

He added: “They (the council) want me to go away and forget about it, but how could anyone? Why should I back down? All I want is a chance to get my property back.”

The landfill is guarded around the clock with a network of video cameras to keep those eager to try their luck with metal detectors at bay. The whole situation began 10 years ago when James’s partner threw away the only hard drive containing access to his crypto assets in a black bin bag.

Since then James has been battling Newport City Council to recover the hard drive after narrowing down the area where the hard drive may be. However, any further search in that area would mean excavating 100,000 tonnes of rubbish buried under the grassy hills.

The council has declined all of James’s requests and a strict security cordon has been placed around Newport Household Waste Recycling Centre in South Wales. The council has cited strict environmental regulations as to why the area of the landfill can’t be touched.

If the price of Bitcoin continues to rise at the same rate, then James’s lost fortune could be worth three times the amount of the annual budget (£537.3m) for the landfill site. Attempting to persuade the council, the desperate investor has offered the council a slice of the money if it allowed him and a team of experts to start digging.

Workers on the site said they were aware of the hard drive’s potential presence in the landfill and some have agreed that James should have the chance to recover it. However, one person who works there didn’t hold out hope that the hard drive could be recovered, even if permission was granted. He said: “’Even if the council gave permission it would be like looking for a needle in a haystack. It would be impossible.”

James lives in a pebble-dashed £180,000 terraced house in Newport, and it’s from there he’s planning his next move against Newport City Council. He has said that if the council continues to be uncooperative, it will lead him to begin high court proceedings.

Newport Council said: ‘We have been contacted multiple times since 2013 about the possibility of retrieving a piece of IT hardware said to contain bitcoins, which may or may not be in our landfill site.

‘The council has told Mr Howells multiple times that excavation is not possible under our environmental permit, and work of that nature would have a huge negative environmental impact on the surrounding area.

‘We have been very clear and consistent in our responses that we cannot assist Mr Howells in this matter. Our position has not changed. We will be offering no further comments on this issue as it takes up valuable officer time which could be spent on delivering services for the residents of Newport.’