IT engineer sues City Council over buried Bitcoin worth $647M

James Howells, an IT engineer from Newport, UK, is in a legal standoff with Newport City Council over his attempt to recover a hard drive containing 8,000 Bitcoin—now valued at $647 million—that he accidentally discarded in 2013.

Howells is suing the council for 495 million British pounds ($647 million) in damages after they repeatedly denied his request to excavate the landfill where the hard drive is buried.

The saga began over a decade ago when Howells mistakenly threw away the drive during a household clearout.

At the time, his Bitcoin was worth around £1 million ($1.3 million), but with Bitcoin’s value skyrocketing since, the drive now holds a fortune of almost half a billion pounds.

Despite his efforts to retrieve the drive, Howells has faced consistent opposition from the council, citing environmental and safety concerns as reasons for blocking excavation efforts.

Newport City Council argues that the landfill, which has high levels of asbestos, arsenic, and methane, poses a serious environmental risk, and digging it up could harm the surrounding area.

They also claim their decision is based on strict protocols for landfill management, dismissing Howells’ proposal to recover the hard drive without cost to the council.

Undeterred, Howells continues his legal battle, assembling a team of legal experts to support his claim.

His case is expected to be heard in December, where he hopes to convince the court to allow him to proceed with his excavation plan.

In 2022, Howells pitched an $11 million plan that involved advanced technology, including robots, to locate the hard drive among an estimated 110,000 tonnes of garbage. However, Newport City Council remains unmoved, leaving Howells’ Bitcoin fortune out of reach—for now.