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The 7,500 bitcoins that James Howells had on an old hard drive were worth about $ 9 million when he realized he was throwing the drive in the summer of 2013. It was bad enough, but the virtual currency is now worth about $ 273 million. , Report CNN. “I had two identical hard drives, and I threw out the wrong one,” Howells said. “I have to laugh about it now.” He wants to dig a section of the landfill to find the hard drive, and he thinks he has a plan to make sure everyone wins. Howells would pay the government of Newport, Wales, a quarter of the treasure’s value more than $ 70 million. The city could split its share among the population, which according to Howells would amount to more than $ 200 per person, “should I find and recycle the bitcoins.” A hedge fund supports its search, according to him Guardian, so it will cost Newport nothing. The hedge fund will take 50% of the price and Howells 25%.
Howells, a computer engineer, said he hopes the hard drive has not weakened to the point where the bitcoins would not be accessible. “The outside cupboard may be rusty,” he said. “But the inside of the disk, where the data is stored – chances are good that it’s still working.” But a city spokesman sounds tired of the topic. “Newport City Council has been contacted a number of times since 2014 about the possibility of retrieving a piece of IT hardware that allegedly contained bitcoins,” she said. The cost of the excavation could be ‘millions of pounds – without any guarantee that it will be found or that it is still in working order.’ The licensing permit does not allow for excavation, and the project also has an environmental cost. Howells is so informed, she said. “So we were clear that we could not help him in this matter.” (Read more bitcoin stories.)