Taking Newport Council to court over £602 million bitcoin in the dump
December 3, 2024 2:13 PM Subscribe
In 2013, James Howells had a sort-out and his laptop mistakenly ended up at the dump. Now he's taking the council to court to get permission to excavate for the laptop and its bitcoin. In The Guardian, but more details in Wales Online. Some more details about his plans and the possible community benefits. There was a long article about Howells in the New Yorker in 2021; archive link.
He has written out two proposals to the council backed by hedge fund money depending on how much of the site he would be allowed to search.
The plans include experts from landfill excavation, environmental waste management and data recovery - as well as security in the form of robot "spot" dogs who patrol the area to ensure nobody else tries to locate the device.
Well if this isn't just the perfect encapsulation of everything that is shitty about the intersection of crypto, technology, and capitalism.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 3:06 PM on December 3 [7 favorites]
The plans include experts from landfill excavation, environmental waste management and data recovery - as well as security in the form of robot "spot" dogs who patrol the area to ensure nobody else tries to locate the device.
Well if this isn't just the perfect encapsulation of everything that is shitty about the intersection of crypto, technology, and capitalism.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 3:06 PM on December 3 [7 favorites]
This guy has basically ruined his whole life over this obsession, it's a really sad story but not because he "lost" millions of pounds. His own timeline makes the very existence of this supposed hard drive very suspect. In 2013 he may have unthinkingly put a hard drive in a bin. His girlfriend at the time may have put the bag in the garbage. Several MONTHS later he reads an article about Bitcoin and becomes obsessed with the thought that he had mined 7000+ BTC.
posted by muddgirl at 3:28 PM on December 3 [2 favorites]
posted by muddgirl at 3:28 PM on December 3 [2 favorites]
The future of finance indeed.
This story appears seemingly every other week or so in my newsfeed. I feel sorry for the council staff and council tax payers having to waste more time and resources on this. I mean if I threw away a couple hundred million dollars I’d probably be pretty irrational about it as well. But recovering a hard drive under tons of trash and garbage ooze/sludge 11 years later…..yeah no. But congrats on achieving legendary level “cautionary tale” status.
posted by inflatablekiwi at 3:33 PM on December 3
This story appears seemingly every other week or so in my newsfeed. I feel sorry for the council staff and council tax payers having to waste more time and resources on this. I mean if I threw away a couple hundred million dollars I’d probably be pretty irrational about it as well. But recovering a hard drive under tons of trash and garbage ooze/sludge 11 years later…..yeah no. But congrats on achieving legendary level “cautionary tale” status.
posted by inflatablekiwi at 3:33 PM on December 3
If he's so sure the hard drive can be found and the data recovered, he may convince the council by paying up-front for the cost of recovery and all the 'community benefits' he plans to fund with his re-found fortune. I guess he's not actually that certain after all. I kind of hope he's successful in getting approval just so some hedge funds can lose a few million in an unsuccessful attempt to get a big payoff.
posted by dg at 3:47 PM on December 3
posted by dg at 3:47 PM on December 3
Give that man a shovel and no more attention.
posted by whatevernot at 3:48 PM on December 3 [1 favorite]
posted by whatevernot at 3:48 PM on December 3 [1 favorite]
so he's satoshi
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 4:14 PM on December 3
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 4:14 PM on December 3
apropos of barely nothing, maybe, but this story did remind me that officially-labeled "welsh gold" is as much of a scam in that no gold is actually mined in wales any longer
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 4:17 PM on December 3
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 4:17 PM on December 3
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posted by dantheclamman at 3:05 PM on December 3