Bitcoin: Newport man steps up bid to find lost £150m hard drive

An IT engineer who mistakenly threw away a hard drive containing more than £150m of cryptocurrency Bitcoin says he has put together an £11m proposal to excavate the landfill site he believes it is in.

James Howells, from Newport, accidentally threw away the hard drive in 2013 after mining 8,000 Bitcoins in the early stages of the currency’s development.

Newport council, which owns the landfill Mr Howells believes the drive is in, has repeatedly denied him access to dig the site on the grounds of environmental and access concerns.

Mr Howells has now pledged about 10% of the proceeds of the drive, if it is recovered, to fund a range of crypto-based projects, including giving each person in the city £50-worth of Bitcoin.

Video by Nick Hartley