Man told he can't recover £598m of Bitcoin from tip

James Howells tried to sue Newport council to gain access to the landfill site or receive £495m in compensation

A judge has thrown out a man's attempt to sue a council to recover from a rubbish tip a Bitcoin hard drive that is now worth about £598m.

James Howells had argued that his former partner had mistakenly dumped the hard drive containing a Bitcoin wallet in 2013, and he wanted to access the site and recover the cryptocurrency.

But Newport council asked a High Court judge to strike out Mr Howells' legal action to access the landfill or get £495m in compensation.

Judge Keyser KC said there were no "reasonable grounds" for bringing the claim and "no realistic prospect" of succeeding at a full trial.

Reacting to the decision, Mr Howells said he was "very upset".

"The case being struck out at the earliest hearing doesn't even give me the opportunity to explain myself or an opportunity for justice in any shape or form. There was so much more that could have been explained in a full trial and that's what I was expecting," he said.

He added he had "been trying to engage with Newport City Council in every way which is humanly possible for the past 12 years" and to now be told he was out of time felt like "a kick in the teeth".

"It's not about greed, I'm happy to share the proceeds but nobody in a position of power will have a decent conversation with me," he said.

"This ruling has taken everything from me and left me with nothing. It's the great British injustice system striking again."

During the hearing in December the court heard how Mr Howells had been an early adopter of Bitcoin and had successfully mined the cryptocurrency.

As the value of his missing digital wallet soared, Mr Howells organised a team of experts to attempt to locate, recover and access the hard drive.

He had repeatedly asked permission from the council for access to the site, and had offered it a share of the missing Bitcoin if it was successfully recovered.

Mr Howells successfully "mined" the Bitcoin in 2009 for almost nothing, and says he forgot about it altogether when he threw it out.

The value of the cryptocurrency rose by more than 80% in 2024.

But James Goudie KC, for the council, argued that existing laws meant the hard drive had become its property when it entered the landfill site. It also said that its environmental permits would forbid any attempt to excavate the site to search for the hard drive.

The offer to donate 10% of the Bitcoin to the local community was encouraging the council to "play fast and loose" by "signing up for a share of the action," said Mr Goudie.

In a written judgement the judge said: "I also consider that the claim would have no realistic prospect of succeeding if it went to trial and that there is no other compelling reason why it should be disposed of at trial."

The landfill holds more than 1.4m tonnes of waste, but Mr Howells said he had narrowed the hard drive's location to an area consisting of 100,000 tonnes.

Mr Howells has speculated that, by next year, the Bitcoin on his hard drive could be worth £1bn.

What is Bitcoin?

Bitcoin is often described as a cryptocurrency, a virtual currency or a digital currency and is a type of money that is completely virtual - there are no physical coins or notes.

You can use it to buy products and services, but not many shops accept Bitcoin and some countries, including China and Saudi Arabia, have banned it altogether.