Man who threw ₹6,500 crore in Bitcoin plans to buy landfill where he thinks it’s buried

What had happened?

The case first came to the fore in 2013 when Howells revealed that he had accidentally lost the Bitcoin he had mined. He said that he had put the hard drive containing his Bitcoin wallet in a black bag and left it in the hall of his house. His then partner reportedly mistook the bag for trash and dumped it in the trash, where it has since been allegedly lost.

Also read: UK man on a mission to find long-lost hard drive with bitcoin worth $280 million

Since then, Howells has been asking Newport city council to help him retrieve the hard drive and has even offered to share the money with them. The council has, however, resisted Howells’ attempts to search the landfill, claiming that the hard drive and the Bitcoin it contains became the council’s property when they reached the landfill.

What happened now?

The man lost a court case last month to force the city council to let him search for the Bitcoin. Following this, the council announced plans to close and cap the landfill, which would irreversibly end Howells’ search. The council plans to build a solar farm on part of the landfill’s land.

Also read: UK resident wants robots to find $181 million bitcoins he dumped 9 years ago

The 39-year-old said it was “quite a surprise” to hear of the landfill’s closure. “It [the council] claimed at the high court that closing the landfill to allow me to search would have a huge detrimental impact on the people of Newport, whilst at the same time they were planning to close the landfill anyway,” he said.

“I expected it would be closed in the coming years because it’s 80-90% full – but didn’t expect its closure so soon,” he added.

“If Newport city council would be willing, I would potentially be interested in purchasing the landfill site ‘as is’ and have discussed this option with investment partners and it is something that is very much on the table,” Howells remarked.