James Howells and the $750M Bitcoin "Treasure Hunt"
As Bitcoin continues its dramatic run and tests the $95k price range, many holders and investors are revisiting their holdings. However, for one holder, the surging Bitcoin price is another reminder of a costly mistake made years ago. James Howells is on a mission to recover his lost fortune: over $700 million worth of Bitcoin at current market prices. According to reports, he is back on trial and has filed a case against the Newport City Council to recover his lost hard drive with 8,000 coins.
Bitcoin is back in the news thanks to its impressive price run that started after Republican Donald Trump's convincing win over his Democratic rival. With his Bitcoin and crypto-friendly stance, the crypto market responded positively, with the top digital leading the charge.
On November 23rd, Bitcoin hit its all-time high of $99,531. For the next few days, BTC traded in the $97k to $98k range before briefly dipping to $90,911. Bitcoin is back at $95k today and ready to re-test the important $100k milestone. As Bitcoin's price continues to surge, many holders celebrate and remain bullish, but some are left thinking of "what-ifs."
While many feel the "FOMO," one early crypto holder worries about his lost Bitcoin. James Howells, an IT engineer from Newport, is waging a campaign to retrieve the hard drive that contains his Bitcoin holdings.
According to multiple sources, Howells accidentally discarded the hard drive and other personal effects in 2013, thinking that these were all garbage. He didn't realize that the drive contained 8,000 Bitcoins worth £4m at that time. Now, the drive is valued at more than £560 million, or over $750 million worth of Bitcoins. With the current Bitcoin price surge, Howells is back on the hunt, hoping to locate the lost hard drive finally.
Howells' campaign to find BTC hard drive
Howells has spent the last few years trying to find the discarded hard drive that reportedly holds 8,000 BTC. And his campaign to find the lost hard drive has put him in conflict with the Newport City Council. Howells has reportedly filed a request with the council to excavate the city's dump site.
According to Howells, he had already asked the Newport City Council if he could search the landfill in several instances, but the request was denied. In a 2021 interview with BBC Radio 5 Live, Howells shared that he offered the local council 10% of the recovered funds, but the council still denied the request. He continued that Bitcoin's value has continued to increase during this time. Howells pitched to share the 10% in 2017 when his total holdings had hit £125m. However, the city council has repeatedly denied the request, saying that the excavation was not possible and that it could damage the surrounding areas.
Last month, Howells took another step towards reclaiming the lost hard drive by suing the Newport City Council for over £495 million in damages. According to a WalesOnline report, the £495,314,800 in damages reflects the peak valuation of his lost Bitcoin holdings. He added that the set damages are just "leverage" to bring the city council to the table and give him the go-signal to excavate the landfill.
In a statement, he explained that the city council withholds his property without his consent. Howells further explained that he had a team of experts who would lead the £10 million excavation at no cost to the council.
New twist to the Howells BTC saga: Ex-girlfriend admits to throwing the hard drive
In a new twist to the Howells' Bitcoin saga, it was revealed that it was an ex-girlfriend, and not him, who unintentionally threw the hard drive. According to Yahoo Finance, Halfina Eddy-Evans confessed to the Daily Mail that she's the one who threw away the hard drive that holds the Bitcoin at Howells' request.
She clarified that it was not her fault, and she just followed the instructions of her-then boyfriend. She added that blame should not fall on her and hoped that Howells would become successful in his efforts to locate the missing hard drive.
Lost BTCs may be recoverable
One of Bitcoin's biggest features is security, and while it can protect your holdings, it can also cause one's agony. Bitcoin transactions are almost impossible to duplicate, and they're irrevocable, too. Once you have your private keys, you control your Bitcoins. However, losing your private keys means losing access to your coins. If it happens, can you still recover your BTCs?
Yes, there's a chance for some of the holders to recover their lost Bitcoins.
If you have lost your private keys or passwords, one of the solutions you can do is to work with a professional recovery service. According to one popular service provider, around 2.5 percent of the 20 percent of lost BTCs can still be recovered. However, these service providers warn that it's a different story when discussing corrupted hard drives. Experts say you have a better chance of recovering your Bitcoins if you have private keys and simply lost or forgot your password.
These professionals will ask for the holders' best guesses for passwords and use these to access the wallets. Even if you know a part or a few characters of the password, it can boost your chances of accessing our lost digital assets. Then, the team will try "brute force" to access the account, using different variations of the passwords based on what you remember. Sometimes, teams may run tens to hundreds of millions of password variations before unlocking a wallet.
This approach only works for holders who need to remember their passwords. But if the hard drive has been corrupted, or the drive has been lost, like what happened to James Howells, then that's the real problem. Howells' only option is for the city council to give him the go-signal to excavate the city's landfill and find the missing hard drive. And we're hoping he still has his private keys and password to finally unlock a huge Bitcoin pile that can be valued at over $1 billion soon.
Other notable lost BTC wallet cases
Aside from James Howells, there are other cases and stories about lost Bitcoin wallets that were believed to hold vast sums. As Bitcoin's price continues to surge and cryptocurrencies' use cases expand, many holders and investors revisit some of these wallets and explore plenty of "what-ifs."
- Satoshi Nakamoto's wallet. The person behind the world's first digital asset has remained a mystery until today, and his Bitcoin holdings are often the subject of talks and debates. According to some rumors, his wallet holds around 1.1 million Bitcoins. A few months ago, on-chain data tracked a $1.2 million Bitcoin transaction to "Satoshi Nakamoto". The recipient wallet that received the transmission is the same address that mined the Bitcoin network's first block reward, which started the blockchain. This wallet still contained the first 50 Bitcoin rewards earned on January 3rd, 2009. After the payout, this wallet held nearly 100 Bitcoins. Interestingly, the transaction happened two days after the 15th anniversary of the start of the Bitcoin network.
- Unknown MtGox BTC wallet. At its peak, the MtGox exchange handled nearly 70% of all Bitcoin transactions. However, the company was hacked in 2014, leading to the loss of 850,000 Bitcoins. A huge portion of these missing BTCs remain unaccounted for until today. However, recent court documents and investigations have shed light on what may have happened to the digital assets. According to court records, two Russian nationals, Alexey Bilyuchenko and Alexander Verner, together with other individuals, gained access to the site's users' data and transaction database, together with the private keys. From 2011 to 2024, Verner, Bilyuchenko, and others transferred around 647,000 Bitcoins from the company's wallets. Around 300k Bitcoins were transferred to BTC-e, an exchange that was closed by the FBI for alleged involvement in cybercrimes.
- Stefan Thomas and the lost password. German-born programmer Stefan Thomas encountered what most BTC holders fear: he needed to remember his password to an IronKey hard drive. According to reports, the hard drive held 7,002 Bitcoins and only allowed ten password attempts before it locked. Thomas has already used eight attempts, and he's now facing the harsh realities of Bitcoin security. With just two attempts available, one cyber security team offered its services to unlock Thomas' IronKey. In a public post, the group shared an open letter with Thomas, explaining that they could help recover the lost Bitcoins. According to the group, they have already tried breaking into similarly-secured devices, using 200 trillion tries. Thomas did not pursue the team's offer and remained loyal to his commitment to the other two teams he contacted first.
Thomas' experience shows that Bitcoin's vaunted security measures are a double-edged sword; they can protect your digital assets, but they can also be taken away if you don't have private keys and passwords. Howells's only option is for the City Council to greenlight his request to excavate the landfill.
Losing access to Bitcoins is a growing concern for holders, and not just for these two individuals. According to 2022 estimates, Bitcoin holders could have lost access to roughly 20% of the asset's total supply, amounting to billions of dollars.
