James Howells, from Newport in England, claims that in 2013, his ex-girlfriend mistakenly discarded a hard drive containing 8,000 Bitcoin.
He recently sued the Newport City Council to gain access to the landfill or receive £495 million in compensation, but a judge dismissed his case.
The Newport landfill, located on Docks Way, is set to close in the 2025-26 financial year, with the council planning to build a solar farm on the site to power its fleet of electric bin lorries.
Howells criticized the council’s stance, saying: “The council planning on closing the landfill so soon is quite a surprise, especially since it claimed at the High Court that closing the landfill to allow me to search would have a huge detrimental impact on the people of Newport, whilst at the same time they were planning to close the landfill anyway.”
The landfill contains over 1.4 million tons of waste, and Howells estimates his hard drive lies within a 100,000-ton section.
He is now considering purchasing the site outright with backing from investment partners.
“I would be potentially interested in purchasing the landfill site. I have discussed this option recently with investment partners, and it is very much on the table,” he said.
Howells is also seeking to appeal the judge’s decision, which ruled that his claim had “no realistic prospect” of success due to the long time that had passed since the hard drive was lost.
Although Howells is set to recover his long-lost Bitcoin treasure, Newport City Council has declined to comment further on the matter.
