A British IT worker, James Howells is pursuing a long-lost fortune wrapped in Bitcoin (BTC). He has hit a decisive legal dead end. A UK High Court judge recently dismissed his attempt to sue Newport City Council for access to a landfill. Howells claimed a hard drive containing £600 million, equivalent to $739 million in Bitcoin, is buried there. The decision marks a dramatic setback in Howells’ years-long effort to reclaim the lost fortune. James Howells’ Costly Mistake In 2013, James Howells, an early Bitcoin adopter, unknowingly lost access to what could have been one of the most valuable digital wallets in the world. His ex-partner accidentally threw away the hard drive, which he believed contained over 7,500 Bitcoin units. Bitcoin was worth nothing back then, but its explosive rise in value has turned it into a multi-billion-dollar fortune. Determined to recover his lost fortune, James Howells has spent years appealing to Newport City Council. He believes the hard drive containing his appreciated BTC fortune is buried in a South Wales landfill. Despite his efforts, the council has repeatedly denied him access to search the site. Howell Faces Legal and Environmental Hurdles Newport City Council stood firm, arguing that the hard drive became its property upon entering the landfill. The Council also cited environmental regulations prohibiting the excavation of waste from the site, which holds over 1.4 million tonnes of waste. Howells mentioned that he had narrowed his search area to 100,000 tonnes. He even offered the council a share of the asset if recovered. At a December hearing, Howells’ team presented their case, but Judge Keyser KC found the legal arguments unconvincing. The judge ruled that the case lacked reasonable grounds and had no realistic prospect of success. A Lost Fortune, but a Gift to the Bitcoin Community Judge Keyser’s decision has ended Howells’ legal fight for now, and the Bitcoin fortune he hoped to recover is still lost. The hard drive, buried in a landfill, will likely never be found. Even though Howells’ efforts failed, the value of his lost Bitcoin shows how much cryptocurrency has grown. Digital assets are changing the world economy, and Fidelity predicts Bitcoin is poised to be part of national reserves by 2025 . This shows how crypto assets are becoming more important in traditional finance. The post UK Court Rejects James Howells’ Bid to Dig Up £600M Bitcoin from Landfill appeared first on TheCoinrise.com .
