The local government is not enthusiastic about the devices.
James Howells, a computer scientist from Newport, has been searching for more than a decade for a hard drive that he claims contains nearly 8,000 bitcoins. The device was accidentally thrown away by his then-partner in 2013, and Howells has since done everything he can to find it. At the current exchange rate, the value of the cryptocurrency on the board is approximately $540 million (nearly 200 billion forints).
For years, Howells had been trying to convince the local council to let him excavate the disc. According to his claim, his requests have so far fallen on deaf ears, although he has offered to organize the excavations himself. In order to find the hard drive, more than 100,000 tons of waste must be searched, and even then success is not guaranteed.
The man thinks he has an 80 percent chance of recovering the cryptocurrency on it, but apparently that would require finding the disk first. Howells even offered 10% of the recovered Bitcoin to the municipality, but apparently this noble gesture was not enough to gain permission.
The municipality repeatedly rejected Howells' request, citing environmental concerns. The man has now taken legal action to enforce his will.
“The municipality has repeatedly informed Mr. Howells that excavation work cannot be carried out based on environmental protection rules and that such work would have significant negative impacts on the environment. The municipality is the only body authorized to carry out such activities in the area.”
– said the municipality spokesman.
Howells said in an interview that a lawsuit is not his goal, he just wants to pressure the municipality to allow excavation. So far it has not been successful.
