British Man Willing to Buy an Entire Landfill to Recover $800 Million in Bitcoin from Lost Hard Drive

A Welsh engineer has devised a multi-million-dollar plan to recover a lost hard drive containing 8,000 Bitcoin. The hard drive was accidentally dumped in 2013. Its owner believes it’s sitting under a mountain of trash in a landfill.

Engineer Wants to Recover His $800 Million Bitcoin

James Howells was mining Bitcoin before it was popular. So, he cobbled together a stash of thousands of tokens stored on a hard drive in 2009, just months after Bitcoin’s mysterious creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, mined the first coin. But Howells mistakenly dumped his golden hard drive in a landfill in 2013, the year Bitcoin first surpassed $1,000 per token.

The hard drive’s value constantly fluctuates with the price of Bitcoin. It’s now worth around $800 million at the current cryptocurrency price. Howells, 36, is a former information technology (IT) worker. He still relies on Bitcoin as his primary source of income.

The Plan to Find His Bitcoin Treasure

James Howells hasn’t forgotten his holy grail and developed a 21st-century plan to scan the 110,000 tons of trash. Human sorters will be on site, sifting through the garbage in search of the unit. They will also eliminate items destined for recycling in the process. Two robotic dogs produced by renowned Boston Dynamics engineers will also work on security details and scour the ground. Howells told him he would name one of the dogs Satoshi after the elusive founder of Bitcoin.

The consultants brought in from relevant sectors have invested their entire effort and strategy in Howells’ plan. In fact, one consultant was part of the team that recovered the black box from the space shuttle Columbia. 

But Howells won’t get the green light to excavate the landfill without local government approval. He promised the city government 25% of the crypto if it’s found, but officials have been tough on the would-be billionaire. One local official said his proposals pose a significant ecological risk. Howells is prepared to take the government to court if his plan is rejected.

Will the Hard Drive Work If It Is Found?

Whether the hard drive will work depends on a component called a “platter,” a disc made of glass or metal that holds the data. Howells says that as long as the platter isn’t cracked, there’s an 80% to 90% chance that the Bitcoin data can be recovered. Phil Bridge, a data recovery professional who has advised Howells on the project, notes that these figures are accurate. But if the platter is damaged, Bridge says, there’s only a small chance the data can be recovered.