Judge halts attempt to retrieve £600m bitcoin wallet from Welsh dump

Newport: So, there’s this guy named James Howells who’s been trying to get back a hard drive with a whopping £600 million worth of bitcoin. He thinks it’s sitting in a landfill, and he’s been at it for a decade. But a judge just put the brakes on his quest.

Howells, who’s 39, wanted Newport city council to let him dig around in the dump to find his lost treasure. But the council wasn’t having it and went to court to stop him. The judge, Keyser KC, said Howells didn’t have a solid case and that it probably wouldn’t win if it went to trial.

The judge pointed out that the council owns the hard drive now since it’s in their landfill. Howells had his day in court back in December, with some lawyers helping him out for free.

The whole mess started back in 2013 when he accidentally tossed the hard drive while cleaning up. His partner thought it was trash and took it to the dump. Once he realized what happened, he’s been begging the council to help him get it back, even offering to share the fortune.

His lawyer argued that they weren’t looking for a needle in a haystack but just a small area to dig up. But the council’s lawyer said the hard drive was theirs now and that digging it up would break environmental rules.

Howells believes that by next year, the bitcoins could be worth a billion pounds. He’s even thinking about taking this whole thing to the supreme court if he has to.