ALBAWABA - Experts in digital assets have suggested a slim possibility of recovering a hard drive containing private keys to a Bitcoin fortune worth £569 million, accidentally discarded in a landfill in Wales.
James Howells, who began mining Bitcoin in 2009, amassed 8,000 Bitcoins before losing access to his digital wallet. Unaware of the potential future value, Howells discarded the hard drive, only for Bitcoin’s value to skyrocket, pushing his lost fortune to over half a billion pounds.
Howells has been in a legal battle with Newport City Council, seeking permission to excavate the landfill where he believes the hard drive is buried. Hayden Jones, a specialist in digital assets, highlighted that recovery hinges on whether Howells recorded the wallet's "seed phrase," a sequence of random words crucial for restoring access to a Bitcoin wallet.
"If he documented the seed phrase, the digital keys can be recovered. Without it, the chances are very slim," Jones explained. Another expert, Paul Siebenick, echoed the challenge, describing recovery without the phrase as nearly impossible, likening it to guessing an extremely complex password.
Adding to the saga, Howells' former partner, Hafina Eddie-Evans, disclosed that she was the one who discarded the hard drive at his request, unaware of its contents. "I hope he finds it, but I won’t benefit from the money if he does," she said.
While Howells pursues legal avenues to recover his fortune, his case underscores the challenges of securely managing digital assets and the significant consequences of a single oversight.
