Bitcoin Hard Drive Lawsuit: Council Accuses Claimant of Attempted Bribery Over £600m Find

An individual attempting to retrieve a Bitcoin hard drive from a landfill, which he asserts is currently valued at approximately £600m, has been accused in court of “seeking to bribe the council.” Newport Council has petitioned a High Court judge to dismiss a claim brought by James Howells. Mr. Howells is pursuing legal action against the local authority, seeking either access to the site or £495m in compensation. James Goudie KC, a barrister representing the council, stated that Mr. Howells’ proposal to contribute 10% of the Bitcoin’s value to the local community was encouraging the council to “play fast and loose” by “signing up for a share of the action.” Dean Armstrong KC, representing Mr. Howells, characterized the “bribery” comment as “an unfortunate and pointless phrase,” asserting his client’s right to access the site for Bitcoin retrieval. After the proceedings in Cardiff, Judge Keyser KC announced that he would defer his ruling to a subsequent date. Mr. Howells desires entry to the Docksway landfill site, claiming that his former partner inadvertently discarded a digital wallet there. The purpose of the hearing was to ascertain if the matter ought to proceed to a full trial. Mr. Howells has contended that his former partner mistakenly disposed of the hard drive, which contained a Bitcoin wallet, in 2013. As an early adopter of cryptocurrencies, he successfully generated, or “mined,” the Bitcoin at a time when its worth was a mere fraction of its present value. Subsequent to Mr. Howells initiating legal action, the council submitted an application for a High Court hearing, seeking a judge’s dismissal of the claim prior to it reaching trial. Mr. Goudie asserted that the council bore “no duty” to excavate its landfill site solely at Mr. Howells’ behest. The council’s argument rested on legal provisions stating that property deposited in landfill sites becomes the local authority’s possession, and that its environmental permits prohibit disturbing the area in search of the hard drive. He further stated that the council was “bound by the law” and was “not obliged to mediate” a claim it deemed detrimental to the public interest. “Bitcoin enthusiasts are not above the law,” Mr. Goudie concluded. Additionally, Mr. Goudie contended that the significant time elapsed since the hard drive’s disposal in the landfill implied that any claims should now be disregarded. In their request for the judge to permit the case to proceed to a full trial, Mr. Howells’ legal representatives indicated that arguments concerning the ownership of the hard drive required further development. Mr. Howells’ barrister also maintained that the endeavor to locate the hard drive would not constitute “a needle in a haystack case.” He explained that “considerable expertise” had been employed in planning the excavation, thereby making the “haystack much, much smaller.” Mr. Armstrong cautioned that the court ought to be “very, very wary of causing a grave injustice to Mr Howells” should it decline to permit the case to proceed to a full trial. “We seek, plainly and candidly, a declaration of rights over the ownership of the Bitcoin,” Mr. Armstrong affirmed. Copyright 2024 BBC. All rights reserved. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking.