Bitcoin Dumpster Guy has plans to rescue Bitcoin from a landfill

You have to hand it to some people for being feisty even in the face of extraordinary odds. Imagine looking for a single hard drive in the middle of a literal pile of junk. Well, that’s been one British man’s goal for nearly a decade after he accidentally lost his chance to become an early crypto millionaire by throwing the wrong disk drive in the trash.

But now he has a new plan, and it involves… (checks notes…) robot dogs. Okay, I take back all feelings of compassion for his situation.

Former IT worker James Howells – once at the forefront of the crypto boom and could have been a multi-millionaire – is desperate to search a British landfill in Newport, Wales, where he might find a missing drive containing the password for a crypto. wallet containing 8,000 bitcoins, worth close to $176 million at the time of writing. Howells he said accidentally dumped wrong hard drive back in 2013.

Although the price of crypto remains in proverbial dumpster, this cache of data represents millions of dollars that are simply stuck on the blockchain, and no one can access the wallet without the necessary password. It’s been a long road and he hasn’t given up on his quest to save his missing millions. Only problem is finding that the hard drive would requires digging through a literal mountain of junk.

In a interview with Business Insider released SundayHowell said he has a foolproof plan to save his bitcoin from an actual junkyard pile. He has put one together $11 million business plan that he will use to get investors and the Newport City Council on board to help dig the landfill. His plan would require them to dig through 110,000 tons of trash over three years. A $6 million version of the plan would go over 18 months. ONE video arranged by Top gear alum Richard Hammond said tthe bitcoin “champion” has already reportedly secured funding from two euro-based venture capitalists Hanspeter Jaberg and Karl Wendeborn, if Howells can get approval from the local government.

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The trash will be sorted at a separate pop-up facility near the landfill using human pickers and an AI system used to spot the hard drive among all the other trash. He’s even brought in eight experts in artificial intelligence, digging, waste management and data mining, all to find a lone hard drive in a pile of junk.

The plan also involves making use of Boston Dynamics robot dogs. The former IT worker told reporters the machines could be used as security and CCTV cameras to scan the ground looking for the hard drive. When released, each “Spot” robot model cost $74,500. Even with that price tag, Howellhe said already have names of the two. Insider reported that he would name one Satoshi, named after Satoshi Nakamoto, the person or group behind the white paper that first proposed bitcoin back in 2008. The other was to be named “Hal”—no, not that HAL— but Hal Finney, the first person to receive a bitcoin transaction.

So if it sounds like he’s already drunk the crypto Kool Aid, you’re not alone. He describes himself on LinkedIn as a project manager working in crypto and blockchain technology. Insider reported Howells said he makes his money buying and selling bitcoin.

The City Council has wanted nothing to do with Howells since he first came to them with his situation. Howells had reportedly contacted the Welsh city government since 2014, claiming that the case may be damaged, but the internal disk should still be viable. He had even promised to give the city council 25% of crypto earnings if they would just let him rummage through the pile, but the council has said the cost of digging up the pile could run into millions, not to mention the environmental impact on the surrounding area . A local government spokesperson told Insider Howells could present or say “nothing” that would convince them to agree to the plan, citing ecological risks.

And it’s easy to see why. Above ground and satellite images show that the landfill has been covered by dirt and grass. Although local authorities have barely given him the time for the past nine years, the former IT worker said he hopes the new proposal will give his idea legitimacy. If the council says no – again – Howells told reporters he would take the government to court.