760 million dollars in bitcoins, and perhaps more if the price of the cryptocurrency increases in the coming months. This is what James Howells, a 39-year-old Briton, has lost, taking legal action against Newport City Council in south Wales. Explanations.
A never ending story
So the man filed suit to try to force local authorities to let him search the local dump where he believes a hard drive containing his fortune is present. Unfortunately for him, his request was rejected.
Quoted by Business InsiderJudge Keyser KC in charge of the case ruled: “I find that the particulars of the claim do not show any reasonable grounds for bringing this action.” However, the plaintiff claims to have accidentally thrown a laptop hard drive containing 8,000 bitcoins into a trash bag in 2013.
This individual has been trying to access the landfill for more than ten years now for a fairly thorough search. It hopes to rake up the 110,000 tonnes of waste using a combination of human sorters, robot dogs and an artificial intelligence-powered machine trained to spot hard drives on a conveyor belt. A good prince, he even promises to pay 10% of the loot to the local community. A plan to say the least audacious, but which did not convince the courts.
In the past, the municipality of Newport has always refused to give him access to the place. A spokesperson also stressed that this would be costly and risk having a negative environmental impact.
A reaction between fatalism and optimism
Questioned by the specialized site BraveNewCoin, James Howells still seems to have hope despite this verdict:
-I’m disappointed they didn’t let me go to trial, but I was encouraged when the judge said the board might own the physical hard drive, but I still own the bitcoins. Until a higher court tells me no, I will continue to fight. Even if I never physically get these bitcoins back, I will find a way to do something with them.
On X (Twitter), the man seemed a little downcast: “The fact that the case was closed at the first hearing does not even give me the opportunity to explain myself or obtain justice in any form. There would have been so much more that could have been explained in a full trial and that’s what I expected. (…) This decision took everything from me and left me nothing. It’s the great British system of injustice that strikes again.”.
To delve a little deeper into this subject, do not hesitate to reread our previous article here.
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