UK Man James Howells Denies Giving Up Search for Lost 8,000 BTC

According to Jinse Finance, earlier this week, several posts appeared on social media claiming that James Howells, an IT engineer from Newport, UK, had officially ended his search for the 8,000 lost BTC. James Howells responded to The Block via private message on social platform X, stating: "No, I have not 'given up.' The stories circulating externally are partially true, but not as they have been described." Howells explained that on July 1, he formally submitted an offer to acquire and excavate the Newport landfill to the city council leadership, legal team, and a council member, with a value between $33 million and $40 million. To raise acquisition funds, Howells had previously announced plans to launch a token based on Ordinals in October, representing 21% of the lost wallet's value. According to Howells, despite the substantial offer, Newport has not responded to or confirmed receipt of the proposal. "So that's the situation—if they don't sell, there's no need to proceed with a token sale to buy the landfill. I am no longer seeking to purchase the landfill, nor am I moving forward with excavation or recovery efforts, and I am no longer in dialogue with the city council or its representatives." Howells stated that he has merely "shifted" his strategy, but has not given up on recovering the lost Bitcoin, as he remains the legal owner of the 8,000 BTC, citing a High Court ruling from January this year. "The city council may possess the hard drive, but they do not own the digital contents of the drive—these 8,000 Bitcoins legally belong to me, and anyone in the world can verify the balance at any time." Howells said he now plans to tokenize his legal ownership of the lost 8,000 BTC by issuing a Bitcoin Layer 2 smart token called Ceiniog Coin (INI), leveraging the upcoming network upgrade that will remove the 80-byte limit on the OP_RETURN opcode in Bitcoin transactions, thereby unlocking more functional space. The token is expected to launch after October, with an ICO planned for later this year.