Judge dismisses man's did to recover hard drive with £600m worth of bitcoin on it from landfill

A man's bid to sue a council to retrieve a Bitcoin hard drive from a rubbish tip has been dismissed by a judge.

James Howells, from Newport, South Wales, claims his ex-partner accidentally threw away the hard drive in 2013 - and that it is now worth around £600 million.

He had asked the High Court for permission to access the landfill to try to recover the cryptocurrency.

Mr Howells even offered a share of the recovered Bitcoin with Newport City Council if the hard drive was successfully found.

But the council asked a High Court judge to strike out Mr Howells' legal action, which aimed either to access the site or instead to receive £495 million in compensation.

Judge Keyser KC ruled on Monday that there were no "reasonable grounds" for the claim and that there was "no realistic prospect" of success if the case went to trial.

During the December hearing, the court was told Mr Howells was an early adopter of Bitcoin and had successfully mined the cryptocurrency.

As the value of his missing digital wallet increased, Mr Howells assembled a team of experts to try to locate, recover, and access the hard drive.

He had repeatedly requested permission from the council to access the landfill and had even offered a share of the recovered Bitcoin if the hard drive was successfully found.

Mr Howells mined the Bitcoin back in 2009 for a negligible cost and says he completely forgot about it when he discarded the hard drive.

With Bitcoin's value rising more than 80% in 2024, Mr Howells now estimates his 8,000 bitcoins are worth over £600 million.

But James Goudie KC, representing the council, said the hard drive became the council's property as soon as it entered the landfill site under existing laws.

He also pointed out that the council’s environmental permits would prohibit any excavation to search for the hard drive.

Mr Goudie said the offer to donate 10% of the Bitcoin to the local community was encouraging the council to "play fast and loose," essentially "signing up for a share of the action."

In his written judgment, the judge stated: "I also find that the claim has no realistic prospect of success if it went to trial and that there is no other compelling reason to proceed with the case."

The landfill contains over 1.4 million tonnes of waste, but Mr Howells claimed he had pinpointed the location of the hard drive to an area with around 100,000 tonnes of waste.

Mr Howells has speculated that the Bitcoin on his hard drive could be worth £1 billion by next year.

Speaking to BBC Wales outside the court in Cardiff last December, Mr Howells expressed confidence in his case and said he was prepared to take it all the way to the Supreme Court.