James Howells became one of cryptocurrency’s most famous cautionary stories after claiming a hard drive containing thousands of Bitcoin was accidentally thrown away during Bitcoin’s early days.

According to reports, the drive allegedly held around 8,000 Bitcoin that Howells had mined when the cryptocurrency was worth very little. Years later, as Bitcoin exploded in value, the lost wallet potentially became worth hundreds of millions of dollars — and at certain price peaks, even more than half a billion.

The problem? The hard drive reportedly ended up buried inside a massive landfill in Newport after allegedly being discarded by mistake during a cleanup years earlier.

Since then, Howells has repeatedly tried to obtain permission to excavate the landfill using engineers, AI sorting systems, robotics experts, and recovery teams. But local authorities reportedly denied the requests multiple times due to environmental risks, cost concerns, and uncertainty over whether the drive could still function after years underground.

The story became legendary in crypto culture because it perfectly captured both the opportunity and danger of digital ownership. Unlike traditional banking systems, lost crypto wallets can become permanently inaccessible forever if passwords or storage devices disappear.

Some people online still believe the hard drive could eventually be recovered.

Others think one of the world’s biggest lost fortunes is buried under garbage forever.