UK Judge Dismisses $746M Lost Bitcoin Hard Drive Case

James Howells, an IT engineer from Newport, has lost the legal battle to recover a mistakenly discarded hard drive containing more than $746 million worth of Bitcoin. 

The hard drive, which held 8,000 BTC mined during the asset’s early years, was accidentally discarded in a landfill after a miscommunication with his then-partner in 2013. 

The Quest to Recover the Lost Fortune 

Following the costly mistake, Howells, an early adopter of Bitcoin, made several attempts to recover the lost hard drive. Consequently, he sued the Newport City Council for £495 million (about $647 million). 

He argued that the council ignored his numerous requests to excavate the landfill where the hard drive is believed to be buried for more than a decade. 

Although the landfill holds more than 1.4m tonnes of waste, Howells said he had narrowed the hard drive’s location to an area consisting of 100,000 tonnes. He also promised to donate a large portion of the fortune to charity if he recovered it.

However, Newport City Council denied his request, claiming that digging up the site could harm the surrounding area and claims its operation follows strict monitoring protocols.

Judge Dismisses Howells’ Case

In the latest development, Judge Keyser KC, the Circuit Commercial Judge for Wales, has thrown out Howells’ legal case seeking access to the Newport landfill to recover his hard drive. 

According to the judge, there were no reasonable grounds for bringing the claim and no realistic chance of success at a full trial.

“I also consider that the claim would have no realistic prospect of succeeding if it went to trial and that there is no other compelling reason why it should be disposed of at trial”, he said. 

Bitcoin’s value has skyrocketed by over 136,500% since 2013 when Howells began his legal battle. The leading cryptocurrency’s impressive price performance has transformed the situation, turning what was once a lost asset into a million-dollar fortune. No wonder Howells disclosed last December that he was willing to take the case to the Supreme Court. 

As of the time of writing, BTC’s value sat at $92,146, representing a 3.21% decrease in the past 24 hours.