British cryptocurrency owner sues to find lost $ 560 million in bitcoins

An early crypto investor has filed a lawsuit in an attempt to recover a wallet with $ 560 million in bitcoin. According to the Daily Mail, James Howells accidentally threw away 8,000 BTC ten years ago, but now hopes that a lawsuit will help him get them back.

According to Howells, his then-partner threw away a black garbage bag with a hard disk containing his crypto assets. After some research, Howells believes that the hard drive is located in a specific area at a landfill in South Wales in the United Kingdom known as the Newport Household Waste Recycling Center.

However, to find it would require excavating 100,000 tons of garbage buried under two hills, and Newport Council, which oversees the landfill, has rejected his numerous requests to allow him to excavate the area. The council said the dump could not be excavated due to strict environmental regulations. Howells even offered the council a portion of the proceeds from the sale of bitcoins if he found them.

«Since 2013, we have been approached on numerous occasions about the possibility of seizing some IT equipment that is said to contain bitcoins, which may or may not be located in our landfill. The council has repeatedly advised Mr. Howells that excavation is not possible under our environmental permit and that work of this nature would have a huge negative impact on the environment,» the council said.

Howells is now asking the High Court to allow him to find it, and he is backed by hedge fund investors who will get a cut of any bitcoin found. «The council may be happy to leave it in a landfill, but not me. They want me to go away and forget about it. They want me to walk away and forget about it, but how is that possible? Why should I back down? All I want is a chance to get my property back,» the investor said.

In July 2022, James Howells announced his plans to purchase 2 robot dogs worth $ 75,000 each. Without taking into account other possible expenses, the search for the lost BTC will cost the IT specialist 0.1% of the total value of his cryptocurrency.