Court Denies Lawsuit for Lost Bitcoin Worth $770M

user avatar

by Giorgi Kostiuk

2 years ago

A UK court ruled against James Howells, who sought to retrieve a hard drive with 8,000 Bitcoin discarded in a Newport landfill.

James Howells' Case

James Howells, a Welsh IT engineer, lost a hard drive in 2013 when it was accidentally thrown away by his partner. The Bitcoin, mined in 2009, had increased significantly in value. Howells' attempts to reclaim the drive through the courts failed due to high costs and environmental risks.

Proposal to Newport City Council

Howells repeatedly proposed to the Newport City Council to excavate the landfill, offering to bear the costs and share 25% of the Bitcoin. However, the council rejected his proposals citing financial and environmental concerns.

Historical Examples of Bitcoin Loss

This case is reminiscent of Bitcoin Pizza Day. In 2012, programmer Laszlo Hanyecz made the first real-world Bitcoin transaction by purchasing two pizzas for 10,000 BTC, which was worth $41 then. Today, that amount would be worth over $700 million.

The court's decision marks the end of Howells' efforts to reclaim his cryptocurrency, highlighting the risks associated with digital asset storage.

Tier I

Sector: #18291

Sealed Hiding Place Room

Resource Cache

Resource Cache

Tier I

Requires 25% Tier Progress to Claim
Meme Cache

Meme Cache

Tier I

Requires 50% Tier Progress to Claim
Equipment Cache

Equipment Cache

Tier I

Requires 75% Tier Progress to Claim

After collecting, hiding places will be stored in your inventory and can be opened with Keys.

Other news

Optimism Releases Required Batcher Update v1170

Optimism has announced the release of opbatcher v1170, which is mandatory for operators using the batching infrastructure for OP Stack chains.

user avatarAndrew Smith

NEAR Developers Release First Candidate for nearcore 2140

The NEAR developers have published the first release candidate for nearcore 2140, introducing significant protocol and database changes.

user avatarJacob Williams

Lido Completes Winddown of Regular Simple DVT Clusters

Lido has successfully completed the winddown of its regular Simple DVT clusters, marking a significant step in the decentralization of its validator operations.

user avatarZainab Kamara

Avalanche Schedules Helicon Network Upgrade for September 22

Avalanche has announced the Helicon network upgrade for its mainnet, set to activate on September 22 at 1500 UTC.

user avatarSon Min-ho

Uniswap Proposes Protocol Fee Rollout to Circles Arc Blockchain

Uniswap Labs has introduced a proposal to extend its protocol fee collection and UNI burn infrastructure to the Arc blockchain.

user avatarAyman Ben Youssef

Aave V4 Now Live on Circle's Arc Blockchain

Aave V4 has officially launched on Circle's newly established Arc blockchain, featuring key assets such as USDC, EURC, cirBTC, and WETH.

user avatarTando Nkube

Important disclaimer: The information presented on the Dapp.Expert portal is intended solely for informational purposes and does not constitute an investment recommendation or a guide to action in the field of cryptocurrencies. The Dapp.Expert team is not responsible for any potential losses or missed profits associated with the use of materials published on the site. Before making investment decisions in cryptocurrencies, we recommend consulting a qualified financial advisor.