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BBC News
3 days ago
- Business
- BBC News
Bitcoin: James Howells gives up on retrieving hard drive from Newport landfill site
It has lasted 12 years, involving a High Court and Court of Appeal hearing, and a very public row between a computer engineer and a council - but could the Newport tip Bitcoin saga finally be coming to an end? James Howells, from Newport, who claimed his ex-girlfriend mistakenly threw away a hard drive containing 8,000 bitcoins in 2013, has given up on retrieving the wallet, worth £620m, but has been hit with a £117,000 legal bill from his fight. Instead of buying the site to retrieve it, he has now launched his own cryptocurrency - Ceiniog Coin - to try and regain some of his this year, Newport council said it plans to close the site in the 2025-26 financial year, prompting Mr Howells to offer to buy it to retrieve the wallet. But the authority said he owes them just under £117,000 after his attempts to buy the landfill went to court. "We will not be spending any more of our officers' time on this issue until that payment is made," the council told BBC News. It was a move Mr Howells described as "financial coercion", to which the council refused to respond. Mr Howells has spent significant time and energy trying to access the site and recover the cryptocurrency, once describing it as his "9 to 5". But in January, Newport council asked a High Court judge to strike out Mr Howells' legal action to access the landfill or get £495m in Keyser KC said there were no "reasonable grounds" for bringing the claim and "no realistic prospect" of succeeding at a full led Mr Howells to represent himself at the Court of Appeal in London, using artificial intelligence to support his case, but this was rejected. Earlier this year, the council announced that the landfill site is set to close, after which Mr Howells said he intended to buy it."In July, I made a multi-million pound offer to Newport City Council. I followed up with the council's legal team and the leader of the council," Mr Howells said. He said he did not receive a reply or an acknowledgement from the council regarding his offer. A spokesperson for the council said that Mr Howells "currently owes the council just short of £117,000 in legal costs, costs which we occurred defending his claim for £500m submitted last year". It added that the council has a duty to the taxpayer to recover this money and to ensure that council resources are "used efficiently, and that officers time is not taken up unnecessarily"."As such, the council has responded to Mr Howells' correspondence, reiterating that he is required to pay us these costs, and that we will not be spending any more of our officers' time on this issue until that payment is made," it added. The council said it had not received any payment from Mr Howells and would not be commenting further. Responding to the council's comments, Mr Howells said it was "effectively holding the landfill sale process in an attempt to force a payment", something he described as "financial coercion"."If they don't wish to sell the site, they should say so clearly. But this tactic of using unrelated debts to shut down a lawful offer - one that's in the public interest - raises serious questions, not just legally but morally," he to BBC News on Thursday, he said he remained "open to a proper discussion" with council leaders until 17:00 BST on Friday, "after which I no longer care what they do, and will move forward with a tokenisation proposal regardless". The council said it would not be commenting further. What is Bitcoin? Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency, a virtual or digital currency that has no physical can be split into smaller units, with a satoshi being the smallest monetary are named after bitcoin's inventor Satoshi Nakamoto - believed to be a pseudonym – who wrote a key document about the currency in investing in the product around this time, like Mr Howells, were part of a "very small" crypto community known as Cypherpunks, said Billy Bambrough, author of the CryptoCodex was not the first cryptocurrency to be invented, but it did gain considerable attention with early adherents being "very quickly enamoured with it", Mr Bambrough began to rise in about 2016 and 2017, and again in 2020 during the Covid pandemic when "stock markets, cryptocurrencies and meme coins went up hugely". But Mr Howells is not giving up on utilising on his Bitcoin fortune. He now intends to "tokenise" the full value of the wallet assets into a new Bitcoin-based smart token called Ceiniog Coin (INI), which he intends to launch later this year. Mr Howells will use his Bitcoin wallet value as a "store-of-value or 'vault'" providing backing for the new token. Josh Riddict, a cryptocurrency expert, said there are many coins in crypto ecosystems that have "value derived from some kind of asset backing or vault". "Since James' wallet is publicly known and the blockchain is there for all to see, its easy evidence that these 8,000 coins do indeed exist. The need to readily access them to 'prove' their existence simply isn't required."Ultimately the market will decide how valuable they deem this new coin offering to be," he added.
Extra.ie
4 days ago
- Business
- Extra.ie
Man ends 12-year hunt for €800m bitcoin in landfill
A Welsh computer engineer who has spent 12 years trying to find his now €800m bitcoin fortune has given up on his mission. James Howell previously said his ex-partner accidentally took the hard drive containing his Bitcoin wallet to a dump in the summer of 2013. The Welsh man fought tirelessly to gain access to the dump in order to retrieve the hard drive with his fortune. James Howell. Pic: Lee Howell/SWNS Newport Council told Mr Howell that the property had became theirs once it entered the landfill site. At the start of the year, a legal case was launched by Mr Howell, though Circuit Commerical Judge for Wales Judge Keysey dismissed it on lack of 'reasonable grounds.' Mr Howell even offered to share his monies with the dump, but to no avail. Newport Council told Mr Howell that the property had became theirs once it entered the landfill site. Pic: Tom Wren/SWNS The landfill is reported to have more than 1.4 million tonnes of rubbish, though Mr Howell had narrowed the location of his hard drive to an area of 100,000 tonnes. Following reports that Howell had quit his mission, he told The Block that following an offer to purchase Newport landfill site, he had 'pivoted' his strategy. A token offer of between €28m and €34m was made to the City Council, with Howell stating: 'If they won't sell, there's no need for a token sale to buy the landfill. 'I am no longer pursuing the purchase of the landfill, I am no longer pursuing excavation or remediation, I am no longer pursuing dialogue with the council or its representatives.' Instead, Howell is moving to tokenize his legal ownership of the lost BItcoin fortune, which may be possible following the launch of a new Bitcoin Layer 2 smart token called Ceiniog Coin (INI). The Welsh man noted that while the hard drive may belong to the Council now, the digital contents do not.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Man who lost 8,000 Bitcoin makes a shocking move
Man who lost 8,000 Bitcoin makes a shocking move originally appeared on TheStreet. For over a decade, James Howells has tried everything to recover his infamous lost hard drive, the one containing 8,000 BTC, now worth over $900 million 'I am done asking permission,' Howells posted on Aug.4. 'So I'm tokenizing the entire wallet — 8,000 BTC — into 800 billion Ceiniog Coin (INI) – 1:1 satoshi value match.' Built on Bitcoin and using the OP_RETURN function, Ceiniog Coin will integrate with projects like Stacks, Runes, and Ordinals. According to Howells, the token is launching in late 2025 — and he's calling it a direct challenge to the institutions that shut him out. 'To the established and distinguished gatekeepers who blocked me for over a decade: You can block the gates. You can pack the courts. But you cannot block the blockchain. Crypto already won,' he move comes just months after a UK judge dismissed Howells' high-profile lawsuit against Newport Council. In the January 2025 ruling, Judge Andrew John Keyser KC said there were 'no reasonable grounds' for his case and 'no realistic prospect' of success. Howells had been trying to obtain permission to excavate the Newport Docksway landfill, where he believes the hard drive — mistakenly tossed out in 2013 — still sits under an estimated 100,000 tonnes of waste. 'I've tried public proposals, percentages, mediation, legal action, and a formal £25 million offer,' he said on X. 'They ignored it all. No response. No logic. No leadership.' The council has argued that excavation is not legally permitted and would risk environmental damage. But Howells isn't giving up. If Newport Council refuses to sell, he's floated buying the entire site with investors. He's also appealing the court's decision and hinted he might take the fight to the UK Supreme Court. As per Kraken's price feeds, Bitcoin is trading at $103,128. Man who lost 8,000 Bitcoin makes a shocking move first appeared on TheStreet on Aug 5, 2025 This story was originally reported by TheStreet on Aug 5, 2025, where it first appeared. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Man Who Lost 8,000 Bitcoin Now Worth $900 Million Wants To Tokenize Entire Wallet In Bid To Assert Claim On Dumped Fortune
Benzinga and Yahoo Finance LLC may earn commission or revenue on some items through the links below. James Howells, the man who has spent over a decade finding his misplaced hard drive containing over $900 million worth of Bitcoin (CRTPTO: BTC) riches, said Monday he has not given up despite repeated failures and will now tokenize his claim. Howell Changes Strategy After Bid To Buy Landfill Fails In an X post, Howells stated he made several attempts to negotiate with Newport City Council to allow him to search the landfill where the hard drive is believed to be, including public proposals, legal action, and even a formal offer of over $30 million. However, the council has consistently refused, citing environmental and logistical concerns. 'I am done asking permission,' the Wales-based software engineer said. His next plan of action involves tokenizing the entire wallet of 8,000 BTC into 800 billion Ceiniog Coin (INI), a Bitcoin Layer 2 token integrated with other blockchain technologies like Stacks, Runes and Ordinals. Trending: The same firms that backed Uber, Venmo and eBay are investing in this pre-IPO company disrupting a $1.8T market — Howells told The Block that the idea is to launch a successful high-speed, high-scale, fast-confirmation, payment-focused web3 environment backed by 8,000 BTC and secured by the Bitcoin blockchain. The Newport City Council didn't immediately return Benzinga's request for comment. An Unfortunate Saga The bizarre incident dates back to 2013, when Howells' ex-girlfriend unintentionally dumped a hard drive containing 8,000 BTC in the trash. When he lost the legal bid to excavate the site, Howells turned toward President Donald Trump for help, possibly influenced by the U.S. president's pro-cryptocurrency stance. The 8,000 Bitcoins would be worth a whopping $984.73 million at the all-time high price of $123,091.61 and $913.34 million at the prevailing market price of $114,168. Read Next: 'Scrolling To UBI' — Deloitte's #1 fastest-growing software company allows users to earn money on their phones. You can invest today for just $0.30/share. If there was a new fund backed by Jeff Bezos offering a 7-9% target yield with monthly dividends would you invest in it? Photo: Shutterstock This article Man Who Lost 8,000 Bitcoin Now Worth $900 Million Wants To Tokenize Entire Wallet In Bid To Assert Claim On Dumped Fortune originally appeared on Sign in to access your portfolio
