James Howells became the unwitting protagonist of one of the most painful stories in the crypto world. After 12 years of searching for a hard drive containing 8,000 Bitcoins in a landfill in Newport (United Kingdom), British justice dealt him the final blow: he will not be able to continue the research. The irony is that today, a simple Apple AirTag could prevent similar situations. Too bad Apple invented it years later.
Howells' story is not unique. The crypto community is full of stories about lost passwords and lost wallets. Actually, It is estimated that around 3.7 million Bitcoins (valued at more than 300,000 million dollars) they are lost forever. To put things in perspective: if Howells had invested the same 8,000 Bitcoins in Apple stock in 2013 he would have it today… well, at least he would know where his money is.
A landfill and 700 million buried forever
Howells' research hit a legal and environmental wall. The Newport landfill, which now stores these 742 million dollars in the form of ones and zerosis protected by the Pollution Control Act of 1974. Excavation of its 2,000 square meters is not only illegal without a special permit, but could also release toxic substances into the environment. Not to mention the health risk, even if, let's face it, for such a million, we would all go to the landfill to get what we need.
James Howells' odyssey began in 2013 when He realized he had accidentally thrown away a hard drive. which contained the private key of his 8,000 Bitcoins. During those 12 years, Howells presented several proposals to the Newport City Council:
- In 2013, he offered 25% of the recovered value as a donation to the city.
- In 2021, she presented a research plan valued at £11 million, backed by venture capitalists.
- In 2023, he even proposed using robots and AI to minimize environmental impact.
- In 2024, he made his last legal attempt, which was definitively rejected.
Docksway landfill (Newport) after its dismantling with a large part of the waste buried
The most ambitious plan included a team of data recovery experts, archaeologists and waste specialists. He even planned to use sniffer dogs trained to detect hard drives. However, Newport City Council was adamant: Excavation of 10,000 tons of waste could release toxic gases and contaminate nearby aquifers. The 2025 court decision marks the definitive end. The $742 million in Bitcoin will remain buried, becoming one of the most valuable lost “tech treasures” in history.
Evolution of the value of Bitcoin
The (crazy) theory of Steve Jobs as the creator of Bitcoin
Interestingly, at the time Howells lost his hard drive, the Mac community was already heavily involved in the Bitcoin world. Even rumor has circulated that Steve Jobs It was Satoshi Nakamoto, the mysterious creator of Bitcoin. This rumor originated in 2011, when some users started making the connection between Steve Jobs and Satoshi Nakamoto. The reasoning wasn't entirely far-fetched: Jobs left Apple as CEO in August 2011, just months after Nakamoto sent his last known message.
James Howells searching for his hard drive
Defenders of this theory have pointed out several “coincidences”: minimalist Bitcoin white paper design This was reminiscent of Apple's philosophy, with the obsession with privacy being common to both. Even the original Bitcoin code displayed a level of perfectionism that some compared to the Apple co-founder's obsession with detail.
Of course, the theory has no real basis. Jobs was battling cancer at the time, and as we know, he passed away in October 2011. Additionally, his view of traditional finance was quite different from the decentralized philosophy of Bitcoin. Tim Cook, current CEO of Apple, has been much more open towards cryptocurrencies, even admitting that he personally invests in them.
If you have invested or will invest in Bitcoin, keep this story in mind
These days, losing your Bitcoin is much more difficult. Major platforms like Binance offer secure and supported digital wallets. And if you prefer physical storage, a simple AirTag stuck on your hard drive This can save you from a million dollar disappointment. There are even accessories so that the AirTag has an almost infinite battery. However, the greatest danger remains human: forgetting passwords. According to recent data, 20% of lost Bitcoins are due to forgotten keys. And not in a landfill, but in our minds. For this reason, platforms like Binance are implementing account recovery and two-factor authentication systems through the iPhone.
I admit it myself, I stayed there for about two years can't access my Binance wallet to not have access to the “Google Authenticator” account. You have no idea how much I sweated (and there wasn't even 400 dollars inside). It is therefore better to learn from this story and, even if we do not give importance to buying a new crypto, we never know what it could become. This is the mystery of investing.
In Applesfera | Apple AirTag 2: everything we think we know about the new generation of the most popular locator
In Applesfera | How to find out who is calling us on the iPhone with an unknown number
