Cryptocurrency has become one of the most talked about topics of the last period. In this period, when many people reported that they own crypto money, digital wallet solutions also gained meaning. However, a nightmare scenario that may become increasingly common in the crypto money world happened to 35-year-old James Howells. When you read what happened to Howells, you might think that he made the most expensive mistake in the world.
WANTS TO SEARCH IN THE WASTE SITE
Howells, who lives in England, threw out an old hard drive while doing a quick spring cleaning at his home in 2013. Howells wants to search his local landfill and is still desperately petitioning for it.
The reason 35-year-old engineer James Howells wanted to search the local landfill was because a digital wallet with 7,500 bitcoins was found on the hard drive he discarded.
By the time Howells ditched the hard drive, 7,500 bitcoins were making $665,000. Today, 7,500 bitcoins are worth approximately $357 million. So if he hadn’t thrown it away, that hard drive would have made him a millionaire right now.
In an interview with The Guardian in 2013, Howells described how he looked at a landfill roughly the size of a football field:
“I spoke to one of the guys, explained the situation. And he drove me to the landfill in his truck. He said something from three or four months ago would be about a mile down.” said.
After initial efforts for the missing hard drive, Howells seemed willing to lose his digital fortune. But more recently, he has recruited local residents of Newport to help him search for the device.
MILLIONS DOLLAR AWARD TO THOSE WHO HELPED
He reportedly promised to reward those who helped find it with millions if the hard drive was still readable. It is also stated that the 35-year-old man has offered to donate approximately $ 70 million to a “Covid Relief Fund”.
REJECTING A SEARCH REQUEST
Unfortunately, the lost hard drive may never be found. According to a report published by CNBC earlier this year, Howells’ recent request to look at the landfill with a group of volunteers was rejected by the city’s authority over environmental concerns about the effects of removing so much trash.
However, Howells is not the only cryptocurrency owner to face such a disastrous scenario. Earlier this year, it was reported that nearly $140 billion worth of Bitcoin was “lost” due to people forgetting their passwords or never backing up their wallets.