The UK landfill where $777,323,760 worth of Bitcoin (BTC) is presumed to have been dumped is reportedly set to close by next year.
According to a new report from the BBC, the landfill in Newport, Wales, where a hard drive containing 8,000 Bitcoin is believed to be, is slated to close in the 2025-26 financial year.
Says a Newport City Council spokesman,
“The landfill has been in exploitation since the early 2000s and is coming to the end of its life, therefore the council is working on a planned closure and capping of the site over the next two years.”
Welsh IT worker James Howells lost the device containing 8,000 Bitcoin during a 2013 house cleanup when he claims his partner mistakenly threw away the wrong hard drive.
Howells mined the BTC on the hard drive in 2009, during cryptocurrency’s early days.
He had sought to gain permission from the Newport City Council to allow him to search the landfill in hopes of recovering his BTC stash, even offering to share profits. But the Newport City Council refused.
The council maintained that excavating the site would pose significant environmental hazards, including the potential release of harmful materials. Officials also questioned the likelihood of finding an intact hard drive after years of exposure to the elements.
He sued, but a judge ruled against him last month, deciding that there were no reasonable grounds for bringing the claim and no likelihood of prevailing if the claim went to a full trial.
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