$784 Million Buried Bitcoin Hunt: Newport Resident Explores Landfill Purchase

Lavina

February 11, 2025

If his efforts fail, Howells will consider launching a utility token or NFT collection

Newport resident James Howells is looking to buy the landfill where his £620 million ($768 million) Bitcoin stash is buried.

Background

Howells, a computer engineer, mined around 8,000 BTC in 2009
He believes that his ex-girlfriend mistakenly tossed out his hard drive containing a Bitcoin wallet in 2013
He had earlier taken legal action to gain access to the landfill or pursue £495 million [$609 million] in compensation from the Newport City Council
A UK judge, however, dismissed his case in January, stating there were "no reasonable grounds" for bringing the claim
The judge was also skeptical about the “realistic prospect” of succeeding if it went to trial

Why should you pay attention?

If the current owners are willing to negotiate at fair market rates, Howells and his investment partners are now interested in outrightly acquiring the Newport Docksway landfill site
Howells has had discussions with several interested parties over the past few months
Currently, he has "a few options on the table"
He is also looking to appeal the Judge’s decision
The site holds more than 1.4 million tonnes of waste
Howells has, however, narrowed the location down to an area of 100,000 tonnes

Who said what?

If his efforts fail, Howells will consider launching a utility token or NFT collection
He asserted,

"Pretty confident the crypto world would have my back"

It is also worth noting that the landfill site is expected to close in the 2025-2026 financial year
The Newport Council is currently securing planning permission to convert part of the land into a solar farm
Commenting on the current state of affairs, Howells said,

"The council planning on closing the landfill so soon is quite a surprise, especially since it claimed at the High Court that closing the landfill to allow me to search would have a huge detrimental impact on the people of Newport, whilst at the same time they were planning to close the landfill anyway”

Zooming out

The purchase is not going to be a cakewalk
It first has to be determined if Newport City Council is willing to sell the site to an investment and maintenance group
Then, Natural Resources Wales ought to grant an excavation and reclamation permit
Only after this can potential deals and figures be discussed
Howells speculates that the inaccessible BTC could be worth over £1 billion ($1.2 billion) by 2026