Newport, January 17: We all, or most of us, have accidentally thrown away valuable item and later regretted it. The same thing happened with a British man and his mistake resulted in a loss of millions. James Howells has accidentally thrown away a hard drive with 7,500 bitcoins. At current valuation, his bitcoin is worth almost $300 million.
Howells is now offering the local authority where he lives more than 70 million dollars if it allows him to search the city's landfill site, CNN reported. Bitcoin Price Crosses $30,000, Cryptocurrency Market Continues Previous Year's Momentum Into 2021.
The 35-year-old IT worker from Newport in the United Kingdom claimed that he mistakenly threw away the hard drive in summer 2013. After he realised his mistake, he asked for permission to excavate the site. However, Newport council denied his request, saying that excavation was not possible under its licensing permit.
Now, Howells said that he is willing to donate 25 per cent of the current value of the hoard if the city council allows him to dig a specific section of the landfill site.
A Newport City Council spokesperson said that Howells approached them numerous times but the excavation was not permitted under the licensing permit. "The cost of digging up the landfill, storing and treating the waste could run into millions of pounds – without any guarantee of either finding it or it still being in working order," the spokesperson added.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 17, 2021 09:06 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).