In brief: The long-running saga of James Howells' bid to retrieve a hard drive containing 7,500 Bitcoin that was accidentally thrown into a landfill in 2013 has taken a new turn. He now says he has a "finely tuned plan" to recover the component, and that its position has been narrowed down to a small area.
In 2013, Howells had two 2.5-inch hard drives stored in a drawer, one of which he intended to get rid of and another that had a digital wallet with Bitcoin worth the equivalent of around $771 million today.
Howells put the drive containing the Bitcoin in a black trash bag during an office sort-out and left it in the hall of his house. His partner assumed it was there to be thrown away, so she took the bag to the local landfill, where it's been ever since.
Howells has been unsuccessfully trying to persuade the council of Newport, Wales, to allow him to dig for the drive for years now. He even promised to donate 10%, or around $77 million, of the Bitcoin to the local community if allowed to carry out a successful search.
Howells quit his job so he could focus on his quest full-time and hired a team of experts to help him.
In October, Howells sued the city for the right to search the landfill. If it continues to refuse, he wants $629 million in compensation.
The case went before a judge this week. Howells' lawyers, who are working pro bono, said that rather than being a "needle in a haystack," the position of the drive had been narrowed down to a small area and there was a "finely tuned" plan to retrieve it.
Newport authority is trying to get the case dismissed before it reaches a full trial at the high court. The council's lawyers say he has no legal claim to the drive, and that "anything that goes into the landfill goes into the council's ownership."
As for the offer to hand over millions to the community if given permission to dig, James Goudie KC, representing the council, said this amounts to a bribe.
"He is trying to buy something the council is not in a position to sell," Goudie said, adding that the council had "no duty" to excavate its landfill site at Howells' request, and that its environmental permits forbade it from disrupting the area to search for the drive.
"Bitcoin enthusiasts are not above the law," Goudie added. "Responding to Mr Howells' baseless claims are costing the council and Newport taxpayers time and money which could be better spent on delivering services."
There's also the question of whether the data on the drive would still be accessible after more than a decade of sitting under a pile of rotting garbage. Howells has a team of data recovery engineers who are also working pro bono.
With all the obstacles he faces and the amount of time that has passed, some have questioned why Howells hasn't just given up. He says he could "spend the rest of my life working nine to five and thinking about [the fortune] every day," so he might as well keep trying to recover it.
Man narrows landfill search for $771 million Bitcoin hard drive with "finely tuned" plan
