Back in 2013, a guy in the U.K. named James Howells threw away an old hard drive that went to his laptop. But now he realizes there is a problem. That hard drive had 7,500 bitcoins stored on it. And at today's rates, it is probably worth about $300 million.
According to Forbes, he bought the bitcoins for next to nothing back in 2009, but he would go on to put the hard drive in a drawer after he spilled his drink on his laptop. He's now asking city officials in Newport, South Wales, to let him dig up the landfill where it might be so he can find it.
If recovered, he's willing to donate 25% of the money to the city's "Covid Relief" fund. But the Newport council said the excavation was not possible under its licensing permit. Howells said, "Imagine how great it would be to say 'I've given everyone in the city a few hundred pounds'." He even went so far as to offer the local authority 10% of the recovered funds for permission to search on their property but they said no.
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