British media outlets have once again become interested in the case of a Wales-based IT professional who said he threw out a hard drive containing around BTC 7,500 (USD 296m) and who wants to search a landfill for the device, pledging millions of dollars worth of reward to coronavirus charities if he finds it.
Per the South Wales Argus and the BBC, James Howells accidentally threw away his hard drive, full of tokens he bought “for almost nothing” back in 2009, during a clear-out in 2013.
He has petitioned his local council in Newport for the “opportunity to sit down with the decision-makers and present to them an action plan,” stating that he will donate 25% of his lost bitcoin to a Newport “COVID-19 relief fund” if the council let him access the site to look for the hard drive.
It is a story that has captivated the British (and international) media for years – and appears to surface whenever bitcoin goes on a bull run. The last time it cropped up was in 2018, when even the New York Times ran with the story. The BBC reported on the story back in 2013, when his haul was worth a (mere) USD 5.5m.
But this time, it appears that this time around Howells has help. He said,
“The council has told Mr. Howells on a number of occasions that excavation is not possible under our licensing permit and excavation itself would have a huge environmental impact on the surrounding area.”
Despite soaring coronavirus death rates and a long winter lockdown, it appears that British newspaper readers have not lost their famous wit. One reader quipped, in the comments section of the South Wales Argus piece,
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