TL;DR: In 2013, James Howells tossed a hard drive containing 8,000 Bitcoins into the trash. Today, he’s still fighting to dig it out of a Welsh landfill. Spoiler alert: He lost.
It All Started When
James Howells was your classic early-2010s tech bro: an IT worker from Newport, Wales with a knack for mining crypto before it was cool—or worth anything. Back in 2009, when most people were still trying to figure out how to reset their routers, Howells was already knee-deep in Bitcoin mining. He eventually mined about 8,000 BTC on his home computer.
That’s right—8,000 Bitcoins, now worth approximately $765 million. That makes him either a visionary… or the future star of a cautionary tale.
By 2013, mining had slowed down and Howells dismantled his setup. In the kind of act that ensures he’ll be a HODLawards legend forever, he mistakenly threw out the hard drive storing the digital keys to his crypto fortune. His treasure now lies somewhere in the bowels of the Docksway landfill—a sprawling 110-acre monument to bad life choices.
And Then
Once Howells realized his catastrophic mistake, the man basically launched the most expensive trash hunt in history.
Over the years, he’s pitched increasingly wild schemes to the Newport City Council, including:
- Hiring AI-powered robot dogs to dig through the waste
- Offering a cut of the fortune to the city and its residents
- Assembling an entire excavation team, complete with waste management experts and crypto bros in high-vis vests
Despite media frenzies and private investor backing, the council has consistently told him the same thing: “Mate… it’s a landfill.”
By 2025, after over a decade of lawsuits, proposals, and meme-level ambition, a judge officially shut him down. No digging. No drone scans. No robot dogs. Just… no.
The Facepalm
The reactions online were swift and savage.
“Imagine throwing away a literal fortune and spending 12 years trying to get your trash back. Bro’s living a Pixar movie written by Kafka.”
—@rektology
Reddit dubbed him the “Satoshi of Sanitary Waste.”
Twitter (sorry, X) had a field day:
- “James Howells is proof that even IT pros need a Recycle Bin.”
- “Newport’s richest resident is a landfill.”
- “Even 20-year tech veterans lose their keys. And their minds.”
Memes flooded the web, often starring Howells edited into scenes from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Trash.
His last attempt, denied in court, ended with a half-hearted, possibly metaphorical quote:
“It’s not just about the money. It’s about closure.”
Closure… or compost.
Does This Deserve the HODLaward?
👍 Click to vote: Did James Howells earn his golden shovel of shame?
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