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🇬🇧 UK judge dismisses $770M Bitcoin landfill hard drive case

A UK judge has dismissed James Howells' legal case to recover a hard drive containing 8,000 BTC mined in 2009, currently valued at about $770 million, from a landfill. Howells accidentally discarded the hard drive in 2013 when Bitcoin was trading at only $13.

The judge noted there was no realistic chance of success and upheld the council's claim that it owned the hard drive, ruling that Howells was not entitled to attempt its retrieval.

Howells has speculated that the bitcoin on his hard drive could be worth £1 billion by next year and has vowed to take his case to the Supreme Court.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/jan/09/judge-halts-attempt-to-retrieve-600m-bitcoin-wallet-from-welsh-dump

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Discussion

Kevin's Bacon 11mo ago

Hmmm so he unknowingly threw away the drive, and thus did not give explicit consent, but the dump did not tale it by force, nor did anyone else. Who has the rightful claim on this property? Furthermore, this seems like a matter that would be best resolved by insurance companies and arbitrators.

Matt 11mo ago

Why do you assume that one must knowingly throw something away for it to become the property of someone else? I disagree with that assumption. The court seems to have made the correct decision given this information. He gave explicit consent when he dumped the stuff in the trash, fully understanding how trash works. It was his duty to know what was being tossed out and failed in that duty.

I also doubt a drive from that year was so easily missed, but that's irrelevant.

Kevin's Bacon 11mo ago

What the hell are you talking about? I said no such thing. I merely restated the facts and posed the QUESTION of who owns the thing.

Matt 11mo ago

Your entire comment about unknowingly throwing it away equating to lack of explicit consent implies that such consent might not be enough consent for the dump to own it. That is an assumption without which there would be no question.

Write more carefully.

minestr.app 11mo ago

I think I read it was his now ex gf that threw it away, possibly with his permission

Matt 11mo ago

Makes no difference in my opinion.

Kevin's Bacon 11mo ago

That is an absence of explicit consent. I was right. But how explicit does the consent need to be, and how informed? That is key to the question. I very clearly did not assume that there **was** a _lack_ of consent.

Think more carefully.

Comte de Sats Germain 11mo ago

The only one who definitely doesn't have a rightful claim is the judge/court because their decisions are enforced with violence.

Kevin's Bacon 11mo ago

For sure. nostr:nprofile1qqs0agvxc2jx0rdugdmsfmkjzcyyd698s8jlk9c9d6dmxvuyp4daauspzdmhxue69uhhqatjwpkx2urpvuhx2ue0safgzv makes a good case that the dump owns it legitimately.

Comte de Sats Germain 11mo ago

Who owns the dump?

Kevin's Bacon 11mo ago

Worth considering.

Matt 11mo ago

I'm not sure the dump necessarily cares about the stuff in the dump. My suspicion is that the root issue is having people come onto their property to disrupt operations to search for items. But the same property rights are applicable regardless.

Kevin's Bacon 11mo ago

Yeah it's all up to whoever is the legitimate owner of the dump, I think.

Matt 11mo ago

The court didn't make a claim against property. They mediated a property dispute that would otherwise have to be settled by some means, which was historically violence.

f0a8bcfd... 11mo ago

Good, now perhaps media can stop bringing this stupid story back up year after year so I'll no longer have to hear about it through impressed normie friends again and again.

EZ 11mo ago

This story did WILD numbers back in the days, probably still does today, one of the most popular bitcoin stories out there.

I guess normies and nocoiners just love hearing about other people losing wild amounts of wealth in bitcoin

Jon 11mo ago

Yep. The thought of having to see this story every few years drives me nuts.

IsaacGrover 11mo ago

Thank you for the donation James.