James Howells, a UK-based employee, gave Newport city council $ 72 million to get a permit to dig up a hard drive that he dumped back in 2013, with 7500 BTC in it. According to The Telegraph, Howells accidentally discarded the hard drive while cleaning his house back then. His Bitcoin fortune was discovered by mining with a CPU while it was still easy to extract the leading cryptocurrency. As his fortune began to cost millions, he tried to reclaim the hard drive but Newport city council rejected his applications. According to the Newport daily South Wales Argus, the city has now pledged 25% of its revenue as a donation of COVID-19.
HOW HOWELL JUSTIFIED HIS POINT TO THE PUBLIC
As his fortune began to cost millions, he tried to reclaim the hard drive but Newport city council rejected his applications. According to the Newport daily South Wales Argus, the city has now pledged 25% of its revenue as a donation of COVID-19. At current prices, the BTC held on the hard drive costs about $ 300 million. The IT officer reportedly said he just needed access to landfill records to know where to look, and that a team of detectives would make an air-tight seal to prevent the release of toxic gases. To the reporters, Howell had quoted that:
‘No guarantee that the hard drive still works because of the environment it is in. The outside may be rusted. But the inside disk, where the data is stored, there should be a good chance that it still works. I believe there still will be chances. But longer this drags on though, it is less likely to be a possibility.’
WHAT THE OFFICIALS HAD TO SAY
James Howell was however, countered by the officials, they said it was a completely risky job to search for the drive in such a place which could pose huge threats to the environment, and the people of the city. Even if a very tiny amount of gas left the garbage dump and entered the city it would not only pollute the environment, but also bring a lot of people’s life at risk, cause health hazards and interrupt the life of the animals too. Also, if they fail to recover the drive from the dumping place, then it would be a complete loss, because they will have to pay and cover the bills of the employees themselves. However, James Howell has guaranteed to fund whatever money will be needed in carrying out the procedure of excavation of the drive.
