A British man, James Howells, is taking Newport City Council to court, seeking $647 million in damages after accidentally discarding a hard drive containing 8,000 Bitcoin. The IT engineer mistakenly threw out the drive during a household clean-up in 2013, when the cryptocurrency was worth just $1.3 million. Today, those lost Bitcoins hold an astronomical value.

For over a decade, Howells has been trying to retrieve the hard drive from a local landfill but has faced ongoing resistance from the council. His requests to excavate the site have been repeatedly denied, with the council citing environmental concerns, including hazardous waste at the landfill, such as asbestos and methane.

Howells even offered the council 10% of the recovered Bitcoin’s value if they allowed him to proceed, but the council refused. The landfill has been flagged for environmental violations, and the council insists that any excavation could pose a threat to the surrounding area.

In 2022, Howells presented a multimillion-dollar plan involving advanced technology and robots to sift through the 110,000 tonnes of garbage to locate the hard drive—at no cost to the council. Despite this, the council remains unconvinced, questioning the feasibility and legality of the effort.

The case will be heard in December, but for now, the battle continues. Howells' story serves as a reminder of the importance of securely storing digital assets and backing up critical data in multiple, secure locations.