Facepalm: I of the problems with virtual currencies is the potential for them to exist lost or become inaccessible. A famous instance is that of Uk computer engineer James Howells, who accidentally threw away a hard drive with around $285 million of Bitcoin on information technology in 2022. At present, he's offering his local regime a quarter of the crypto to aid him find the device—simply it isn't interested in the bargain.

Howells, 35, mined vii,500 Bitcoin back in 2009 when they were worth nearly naught. He gave upwards his mining endeavours after his girlfriend became sick of the dissonance, selling his equipment but holding on to the hard drive containing his private keys.

When immigration out his desk in 2022, Howell accidentally threw the drive abroad. "I had ii identical hard drives, and I threw out the wrong i. I know I'm not the only person who has ever thrown out the incorrect thing, just it commonly doesn't price people over £200million." he said. "I have to laugh about it now."

The drive ended upwardly in a full general waste material bin at his local landfill site in Newport, Southward Wales, where it was buried.

Unlucky James Howells. Photo credit: The Telegraph

Howells has repeatedly asked Newport city quango to help him in retrieving the Bitcoin, offering a 25 per centum cut—around $71 million—if it helps him recover the bulldoze.

There'southward the question of whether a hard drive from 2009 that'south been cached in a landfill for viii years will still work. Howell'southward optimistic: "There is no guarantee of that considering of the surround it'south been in, but there are things that give me confidence. The outside case might be rusted. But the inside disk, where the data is stored, at that place should be a skilful chance that it still works," he said. "Merely the longer this drags on, though, it's less likely to be a possibility."

Howells says a hedge fund has agreed to back the project so the council won't be out of pocket, and he believes there's a way to narrow downwards the search.

"The way the landfill operated in 2022 was when a general waste bin was total, it was given a serial number, it was dragged off to the open pit and it was buried. It was also given a grid reference number. So what that means is, if I could admission the landfill records, I could identify the calendar week that I threw the hard drive away; I could identify the serial number of the bin that it was in; and then I could identify where the grid reference is located," he explained.

Bitcoin'southward price over the terminal year

"I'd like the opportunity to sit down with the decision makers and nowadays to them an action programme for what we want to do. I hope nosotros tin get that […] We desire to employ an inflatable construction to create an air-tight seal around that area to end landfill gases escaping."

For Newport council, information technology seems the risks outweigh any potential benefits.

"Newport City Council has been contacted a number of times since 2022 nearly the possibility of retrieving a piece of Information technology hardware said to comprise Bitcoins," said a spokesperson. "The cost of digging up the landfill, storing and treating the waste could encounter millions of pounds - without any guarantee of either finding it or it still being in working order."

"The council has besides told Mr Howells on a number of occasions that excavation is not possible under our licencing permit and excavation itself would take a huge environmental bear on on the surrounding area."

"Even if nosotros were able to agree to his request, there is the question of who would meet the cost if the hard drive was not found or was damaged to such an extent that the data could non be recovered. Nosotros have, therefore, been clear that we cannot help him in this matter."

This week brought news of Stefan Thomas, a developer who has lost the password to a hard bulldoze containing 7,002 Bitcoin in a digital wallet. He has two guesses left before the $240 million worth of crypto becomes permanently inaccessible.

Cryptocurrency information firm Chainalysis estimates that around 20 percent of the existing 18.5 million Bitcoin, worth effectually $140 billion, is lost or stuck in inaccessible wallets.