Man Offers $70 M To Find A Hard Drive Loaded With 7500 Bitcoin That He Threw Away Accidentally

35-Year-Old James Howells started mining crypto-currency in 2009, and during this time, it wasn’t very worthy. As of 2013, the IT Engineer from Newport has garnered about 7500 Bitcoin, but unluckily the fortune was mistakenly thrown under tons of garbage. Although, the engineer had believed he already backed up the files he needed from the drive.

In 2013, James Howells, 35, mistakenly threw a hard drive of 7500 Bitcoins under tons of garbage

Now, Mr. Howells is offering his city council $70million if allowed to excavate a landfill site, where he believed the hard drive had been disposed of. The price of Bitcoin has soared over the years, and as of today, it’s trading around $37000; hence Mr. Howells 7500 Bitcoins would be worth over $280million. 

Now, Mr. Howells is offering his city council $70million if allowed to excavate a landfill site, where he believed the hard drive had been disposed of

‘I offered to donate 25% or $71.7million to the city of Newport in a bid to distribute to all residents who live in Newport should I find and recover the Bitcoins.’ Mr. Howells told CNN. He added: ‘This would work out to approximately $239 per person for the entire city of 316000 populace. Unfortunately, they refused the offer and won’t have a face to face discussion on the matter.’ 

The price of Bitcoin has soared over the years, and as of today, Mr. Howells 7500 Bitcoins would be worth over $280million

In an interview with BBC News, Mr. Howells revealed he realized his mistake when the price of Bitcoin skyrocketed from $150 to $10000. In 2013, his 7500 wallet was worth an estimated $6million. Howells claimed he had visited the landfill and felt there was no chance of retrieving the hard drive.

The plan is to dig up a specific area of the landfill hinged on a grid reference system and recover the hard drive while adhering to safety and environmental regulations

A search to find the hard drive has emerged again. Howells told CNN that the plan would be to dig up a specific area of the landfill hinged on a grid reference system and recover the hard drive while adhering to safety and environmental regulations. ‘The drive would then be presented to a data recovery specialist who will rebuild the drive from scratch with new parts and attempt to recover tiny pieces of data that I need to access the Bitcoins.’ Mr. Howells explained.

He continued: ‘The value of the hard drive is over $273million, and I am happy to share a portion of that with the people of Newport should I be allowed to search for it. Approximately 50% would be for investors who put up the capital to fund the project, and I would be left with the remaining 25%.’ 

‘I offered to donate 25% or $71.7million to the city of Newport in a bid to distribute to all residents who live in Newport should I find and recover the Bitcoins’

In a statement sent to CNN, Newport City Council Spokeswoman said it wasn’t permitted to excavate the site. ‘The council has told Mr. Howells on occasions that excavation isn’t possible under our licensing permit. The excavation itself would have an environmental impact on the surrounding area. The cost of digging up to the landfill, storing and treating the waste could run into millions of pounds, without any guarantee of either finding it or it still being in working order.’ The statement reads. 

In a released statement, Newport City Council Spokeswoman said it wasn’t permitted to excavate the site

Nonetheless, Mr. Howells is hopeful as he’s still making efforts to convince the council. The engineer claim he has found a hedge fund willing to fund the excavation; hence the council wouldn’t have to pay for anything. Well, we can only wish Mr. Howells all the best, even though such a financial loss can be depressing.