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Battle over excavation could lead to major legal battle
An unusual legal battle is unfolding in Wales between an IT engineer and Newport City Council. James Howells has filed a lawsuit against the local authority in an attempt to gain permission to excavate a city dump that he believes contains a hard drive containing the access key to 8,000 bitcoins.
The story began in 2013, when Howells mistakenly threw away the hard drive containing the private key to a cryptocurrency wallet. The value of the lost bitcoins has increased significantly over the past decade and is now estimated to be around $514.37 million.
The engineer has offered the council 10% of the value of the bitcoins if the hard drive is found. Howells has assembled a team of excavation experts who are prepared to carry out the operation for £10 million, without requiring any financial contribution from the council.
Howells says the council has missed a unique opportunity to transform the city. If the case had been decided in 2013, Newport might now look like Las Vegas or Dubai. The amount of £41 million offered to the city council at the current exchange rate could rise significantly in the future.
Remarkably, the owner mined the cryptocurrency himself, spending only a few pennies on electricity. A hearing on the case is scheduled for December. City council representatives consider the claim unfounded, citing the potential harm to the environment from large-scale excavations.
Previously, the administration of the landfill installed 24-hour video surveillance and security on the territory.
source : https://cybernews.com/crypto/wales-man-landfill-dig-bitcoin-search/
An unusual legal battle is unfolding in Wales between an IT engineer and Newport City Council. James Howells has filed a lawsuit against the local authority in an attempt to gain permission to excavate a city dump that he believes contains a hard drive containing the access key to 8,000 bitcoins.
The story began in 2013, when Howells mistakenly threw away the hard drive containing the private key to a cryptocurrency wallet. The value of the lost bitcoins has increased significantly over the past decade and is now estimated to be around $514.37 million.
The engineer has offered the council 10% of the value of the bitcoins if the hard drive is found. Howells has assembled a team of excavation experts who are prepared to carry out the operation for £10 million, without requiring any financial contribution from the council.
Howells says the council has missed a unique opportunity to transform the city. If the case had been decided in 2013, Newport might now look like Las Vegas or Dubai. The amount of £41 million offered to the city council at the current exchange rate could rise significantly in the future.
Remarkably, the owner mined the cryptocurrency himself, spending only a few pennies on electricity. A hearing on the case is scheduled for December. City council representatives consider the claim unfounded, citing the potential harm to the environment from large-scale excavations.
Previously, the administration of the landfill installed 24-hour video surveillance and security on the territory.
source : https://cybernews.com/crypto/wales-man-landfill-dig-bitcoin-search/