A HIGH COURT judge has rejected a man’s attempt to sue Newport City Council over access to a landfill site where he believes a hard drive containing Bitcoin worth approximately £598 million is buried.
James Howells, an IT worker and early Bitcoin adopter, claimed his former partner mistakenly discarded the hard drive in 2013. The drive reportedly contains a Bitcoin wallet holding thousands of the cryptocurrency, mined by Mr Howells in 2009 when Bitcoin was worth almost nothing.
Over the years, as the value of Bitcoin skyrocketed—rising by more than 80% in 2024 alone—Mr Howells made repeated efforts to gain permission to search the landfill. He even assembled a team of experts and offered the council a share of the Bitcoin if the drive was recovered, including 10% earmarked for the local community.
Despite his efforts, the council maintained that environmental regulations and legal ownership of the waste prohibited excavation. Representing the council, James Goudie KC argued that, under current laws, the hard drive became council property once it entered the landfill, and searching for it would contravene environmental permits.
“The offer to donate 10% of the Bitcoin to the local community was encouraging the council to ‘play fast and loose’ by ‘signing up for a share of the action,’” said Mr Goudie during the court proceedings.
In December, the High Court in Cardiff heard details of Mr Howells’ legal challenge. However, Judge Keyser KC ruled there were no “reasonable grounds” for the claim and “no realistic prospect” of success at a full trial.
In his written judgement, Judge Keyser stated: “I also consider that the claim would have no realistic prospect of succeeding if it went to trial and that there is no other compelling reason why it should be disposed of at trial.”
Mr Howells had argued that advancements in technology and the narrowed-down search area—estimated to contain 100,000 tonnes of the landfill’s total 1.4 million tonnes of waste—made his recovery efforts viable. He also speculated that the Bitcoin on the hard drive could be worth £1 billion by next year.
Speaking to BBC Wales outside the court last month, Mr Howells expressed his determination to continue his fight, saying he was prepared to take his case to the Supreme Court.
Despite his enthusiasm, the council’s stance remains firm, citing legal and environmental obstacles to any excavation of the landfill site.
