A man who threw away $750 million worth of Bitcoin in the trash has accepted for the first time that it's “game over” after a judge rejected his bid to dig it up.
James Howells said losing his lawsuit to get his property back was “heartbreaking” and said he would spend the rest of his life thinking about what happened.
The 39-year-old was suing the city council for refusing to excavate the computer equipment needed to unlock 8,000 bitcoins, currently worth about $750 million.
Ten years ago, my then-partner made a costly mistake by throwing out a black trash bag containing the drives he needed to access his stash.
It has since been placed in a rubbish den run by Newport Council in Wales, where he has been fighting for years for the right to retrieve it.
Last week, a Cardiff High Court judge rejected a legal request to enter and retrieve it.
Looking back on the verdict, James said he had to face the reality that “game over” was a long battle.
He said: “It's very disappointing to be honest. At least I thought I was entitled to a full say in court, a full trial with all the details front and center.”
“I thought I would at least have a chance in court, but all I got was a one-day hearing and I couldn't speak at all.
“This case was dismissed at the first hurdle and swept under the carpet to protect local councils.
“It's always going to be an uphill battle. I believe in my case, but I didn't think there was any chance of it being fair.
“Unless someone changes their mind, it's a dead end and it's game over. The fat lady is singing. The council owns the land, they own the permits and they have the power to change it if they want.
“I understand the environmental concerns and they are all legitimate. But they can be overcome and I will do everything to ensure that. We have tried our best to deal with it in the most professional manner possible.
“It feels like the end of the world to me. I'm stuck in it now and can't escape from it. I'm stuck in it my whole life.
“Everyone understands that it still exists and is not going anywhere. When it's worth billions of dollars, someone will probably ask me if I want to do some digging.
Last December, Newport Council asked a High Court judge to drop the case in order to gain access to the landfill or $605,194,425 in compensation.
Judge Kaiser KC said there were “no reasonable grounds” to bring the claim and there was “no realistic prospect” of success at a full trial.
And James said the judge's one omission was “very painful” as the judge refused to acknowledge him as the owner of the coin, depriving him of the option to “tokenize” the coin in the future. It became.
He added: “The coin has never moved. It becomes like a vault to store gold and create new assets for public trading.
“The value of a new cryptocurrency will be permanently linked to your wallet address. We wanted to salvage something from this: convert your coins into a new asset using tokenization.
“Unfortunately, the judge refused to give me ownership of the Bitcoin as part of the order.
“Newport District Council owns the physical hard drive, but not the Bitcoin. However, in his judgment the judge noted that James・It did not state that Howells owns Bitcoin.
“That would have given me hope for the future. Even though I couldn’t excavate it, it was a small glimmer of hope that I could refocus and work on my tokenization project. The judge removed all that. I did.
“Honestly, it was heartbreaking.”
Mr James currently has 21 days to appeal, but he said he would have to seek permission from the same judge to appeal, which would require a sound legal argument.
Furthermore, he added: “Then it's game over. I'm not giving up and I'm not going to capitulate, but things are looking pretty bleak.
“I don't know what else to do. Maybe Donald Trump can help me make something happen. If I can get Trump to help me, I'm definitely going to Trump.” will intervene in this transaction.
“I appeal to him and others to help us solve this madness. I'm only half-joking, of course, but it would be great if he did that.”
Mr James has assembled a legal team of experts who have argued that they can go in and recover it without straining the public purse, but the council has argued it would have an “adverse environmental impact”.
Failure to approve the City Council's “strike out” application would have paved the way for a full two-week hearing within the next six months.
Mr James also promised to donate 10 per cent of profits locally, an offer the council's legal team branded a “bribe” to the council.
Mr James said for many years the council had refused to get involved and had missed an opportunity to transform Newport into Britain's “Dubai or Las Vegas”.
He said: “Despite being dumped by my ex-partner, even though it was a mistake and without my permission or consent, I still own the intellectual digital property that is on my hard drive.''
“I feel that I have the right to recover the property at full out-of-pocket expense or, if the landlord refuses, to pay me the value of my property.
“I would rather say, let's have a discussion and work together amicably to advance our research, but they don't want to know.
“This is a hell of a lot of money to do so much good for this area.”
James said the claim was around $615 million, but Bitcoin could break the £1 billion barrier if it reached $150,000.
Newport City Council said: “Newport City Council has been contacted numerous times since 2013 about the possibility of recovering IT hardware that is said to be in landfill.
“The City Council has told Mr Howells on numerous occasions that excavation is not possible under the environmental permits and that work of that nature would have a significant negative environmental impact on the surrounding area.
“The council is the only body authorized to carry out the work on the ground.
“Mr. Howells' claims are without merit and are vigorously resisted by the City Council.”
