James Howells fights for court approval to recover $800M Bitcoin

James Howells continues his legal battle to retrieve a hard drive containing 8,000 Bitcoin (CRYPTO:BTC), now worth $800 million, buried in a Newport landfill.

During a Cardiff civil court hearing on December 2, Newport City Council sought to dismiss Howells’ case.

The council argued that all items discarded at the landfill become its property and rejected Howells’ offer to share a portion of the recovered funds.

The council labeled the offer an attempt to buy what it legally cannot sell.

Howells’ legal team, led by Dean Armstrong KC, presented a carefully planned excavation proposal supported by data recovery and excavation experts.

These experts are working on a contingency basis, with payment tied to the Bitcoin's recovery.

“Somewhere in a Newport garbage dump there’s a hard drive with 8,000 BTC (so now $704 million) on it. Rumor has it James Howells is still sifting through trash today. See, you can feel better about any investing mistakes you’ve never lost that much,” Adam Singer shared on X, formerly Twitter.

The saga began in 2013 when Howells accidentally disposed of the hard drive during an office cleanup.

His partner at the time mistook the drive for trash and took it to the landfill.

Shortly after realising his mistake, Howells approached Newport City Council with offers, including a 25% reward, to gain permission to search the landfill.

Despite repeated rejections, Howells remains determined to recover his lost Bitcoin fortune.

His story echoes other historic Bitcoin misfortunes, such as Laszlo Hanyecz’s purchase of two pizzas for 10,000 Bitcoin in 2010.

If granted court approval, Howells faces the daunting challenge of locating the hard drive, described as akin to "searching for a needle in a haystack."

At the time of reporting, the Bitcoin price was $97,749.30.