UK Judge dismisses $770M Bitcoin landfill hard drive case

James Howells, an IT engineer from Newport, Wales, has lost his legal battle to recover a hard drive containing more than $770 million worth of Bitcoin.

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The hard drive, which holds Bitcoin (BTC) mined in 2009, was mistakenly thrown away and ended up in a landfill. The Newport City Council has denied access to the landfill due to environmental permit restrictions.

In the latest development, Judge Keyser, the Circuit Commercial Judge for Wales, has thrown out Howells’ legal case seeking access to the Newport landfill to recover his hard drive, according to a Jan. 9 BBC report.

Keyser said that the legal case had “no realistic prospect” of succeeding at a full trial.

Since 2013, Howells has repeatedly requested the council’s permission to access the site, offering a share of the missing Bitcoin if the hard drive were found.

Howells’ case gained growing interest in 2024 amid Bitcoin’s historic rally to $100,000, which saw Bitcoin generate over 130% in yearly returns.

Cointelegraph has approached Howells for comment.

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The $770 million Bitcoin hard drive saga

Howells, an early Bitcoin adopter, mined 8,000 BTC in 2009 when it cost nearly nothing to do so. He accidentally discarded the hard drive in 2013 when the cryptocurrency was trading at just $13.

Bitcoin has increased by over 704,000x in the 12 years since 2013 when Howells began his legal battle, Cointelegraph data shows.

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For more than a decade, Howells has fought to reclaim his lost BTC fortune. He has repeatedly pursued negotiations with Newport City Council for permission to search the landfill, but the council has consistently refused.

The council has also repeatedly declined to meet Howells in person.

The council said on Oct. 11, 2024, it had informed Howells “multiple times that excavation is not possible” under its environmental permit due to the “huge negative environmental impact on the surrounding area.”

Howells has accused the council of violating environmental regulations, claiming to have “100 independently verified pieces of evidence” to support his allegations.

Howells said the council has been breaching its landfill permit “by leeching arsenic, asbestos, ammonium nitrate and methane gases into the local environment.”

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