'Thought 800 Billion Won Was Trash'... Bitcoin Accidentally Discarded

British Investor Discards 8,000 Bitcoins
The Landfill Site Under 24-Hour Surveillance

British investor James Howells, who lost a 'hard disk drive' containing 8,000 Bitcoins currently valued at about 800 billion KRW, is making headlines. The hard drive worth 800 billion KRW is believed to be buried inside a landfill site.

According to the UK Daily Mail on the 29th (local time), cryptocurrency investor Howells is one of the early investors who invested before Bitcoin gained fame.

He mined 8,000 Bitcoins in 2009 using a laptop, stored them on a hard drive, and then removed the hard drive from the laptop. Four years later, in 2013, Howells checked the rising price of Bitcoin and tried to find the hard drive, only to be shocked. He had mistaken the hard drive for trash and discarded it.

Investor James Howells who accidentally threw away a hard drive containing 8,000 Bitcoins
[Image source=Online community archive]

The hard drive discarded by Howells was already taken by a garbage collection vehicle and is now believed to be buried in a landfill in Newport, Wales, UK. Approximately 100,000 tons of waste have accumulated at this landfill.

Howells has not given up on Bitcoin yet. He tried to dig up the landfill himself to find the hard drive, but this time the Newport City Council blocked him. Permission from the city is required to excavate the landfill, but the city reportedly denied the request.

However, even if permission is granted, there is no guarantee that the hard drive can be found. Some waste is transported to incinerators instead of landfills and is immediately burned. Currently, the 800 billion KRW Bitcoin hard drive is only presumed to be buried in the Newport landfill.

The landfill is said to be operated under strict security. An employee of the landfill told the Daily Mail, "All staff know what is buried in the landfill below the hill," and added, "We maintain 24-hour security to prevent potential grave robbers."

Howells has moved his residence near the landfill and is reportedly still requesting the Newport City Council to permit excavation work. After being denied several times by the city council, he is preparing for legal battles. Howells admitted to the media, "At present, it seems unlikely that the city council will cooperate," but added, "I will file a lawsuit in the High Court in the near future."

Howells predicted, "I believe Bitcoin will rise to $250,000 (about 337.12 million KRW) by the end of the year," and said, "If that happens, the value of the Bitcoins on my hard drive will reach $2 billion (about 2.7 trillion KRW)."