Judge rejects man’s legal battle to recover lost Bitcoin
The judge ruled that James Howells’ case had no realistic chance of success, ending his hopes of recovering the lost cryptocurrency.
A High Court judge has dismissed a legal challenge by James Howells, who sought to recover a Bitcoin hard drive worth nearly £600 million from a Newport landfill. Howells claimed his former partner mistakenly discarded the device in 2013 and had repeatedly asked the council for permission to excavate the site. He argued that the lost cryptocurrency should be returned to him or that he should receive £495 million in compensation.
Newport City Council opposed the claim, stating that existing laws meant the hard drive became council property when it entered the landfill. The judge ruled there were no reasonable grounds for the case to proceed, as the claim had no realistic chance of success. Environmental regulations also prohibited digging up the site, which contains more than 1.4 million tonnes of waste.
Howells, who mined the Bitcoin in 2009 when it was virtually worthless, expressed disappointment at the ruling, calling it a “kick in the teeth.” He had offered to share a portion of the recovered cryptocurrency with the council and the local community. With Bitcoin’s value surging in 2024, he speculated that the hard drive’s worth could exceed £1 billion by next year, but the legal route to reclaiming it has now been firmly closed.
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