The UK Court of Appeals rejected a Wales resident’s application to excavate a dump where he believed his hard disk containing 676 million dollars in Bitcoins had been dumped over a decade before.
James Howells Postings On Friday, Linkedin posted a screen shot of the final ruling by an appeals court. The software developer, who mined lost Bitcoin in 2009. The legal battle was long He has tried to get access to a landfill where his tokens are believed to be hidden. Buy the Waste Site.
Howells plans to appeal his case in the European Courts of Human Rights after exhausting all legal remedies through the U.K. Court system.
“The Great British Injustice System strikes again… Moral of the Story: The state always protects the state,” Howells wrote in his Linkedin post. “Next stop: ECHR.”
Howells was left with a hard drive that contained the key to over 8,000 Bitcoins when his ex-partner threw it away in 2013. CoinGecko reports that Bitcoin peaked at $1,130 around the same time. shows.
However, since that time, the value has increased astronomically. Bitcoin traded at $84,500, more than 700% its peak price of 2013.
Howells’ Bitcoin holdings are worth millions of dollars. But his case also underscores a common reality for many crypto holders—the difficulties of custodying one’s own cryptocurrencies.
In an email to Howells (Rt. Hon. The U.K. Court of Appeals’ Lord Justice Nugee said he had rejected the Bitcoin holder’s appeal, because the case did not “have any real prospects of success.”
Howells refuted the judge's argument in a Friday statement, which he shared with Decrypt.
The British establishment wanted to sweep under the carpet this issue, but I would not allow it. “It will not go away—no matter how long it takes!”
Howells may have claimed he had plenty of time to defend his case but the time left to find his hard drive has run out.
The council’s proposed budget for 2025-2026 shows that the local council responsible for the Welsh landfill will close the site in the next financial year when it reaches its maximum capacity.
