The story is already known since it began way back in 2013 when James howells, a British boy from Newport, He accidentally threw a hard disk into a landfill on which the private keys of were stored a wallet with about 8000 Bitcoin. Today they would be worth about 170 million.
The news, published by with the BBC, went around the world, and despite the difficulty of finding the hard disk, James Howells did not lose heart: he devised a plan to try to recover the precious loot. However, he was denied permission to enter the landfill and begin the search operations.
Years passed and James promised to obtain the necessary permits to start the excavations. 25% of the value of Bitcoin to the Newport council, but was refused yet again due to bureaucratic and environmental problems. Among other things, the recovery operation could cost millions of pounds, without any guarantee of recovering the hard disk or worse that once found it is no longer functional.
The hard drive in question would be ended up under a blanket of rubbish as large as a football field, Studying aerial photographs, James believes that the disk is located in an area of 200 square meters with a depth of 15 meters.
Furthermore, for James the hard disk is still working, and he managed to convince even a hedge fund, ready to cover expenses in exchange for a share of the “booty”. It seems that we have managed to involve the operation as well OnTrack, a leading data recovery company, which managed to extract data and recover 99% of the information from a charred hard disk of the Columbia shuttle that exploded in 2003 on behalf of NASA. An incredible recovery considering that the disk was found in the bed of a dried-up lake six months after the disaster.
James Howells then explained the new strategy to start the recovery of the “treasure” during his interview with Business Insider. A first step is to overcome the resistance of the city council, then start the recovery operations by digging in 110.000 tons of garbage.
The operation, supported by a venture capital fund, could cost up to $11 million and will be presented to the council in the coming weeks.
Beyond the economic motivation, the recovery is a complex operation, and to succeed in the enterprise they will employ trained personnel, Boston Dynamics “Spot” robot dogs and a conveyor belt with a robotic arm intelligent which can detect whether the tape contains a hard disk or just plain junk.
The whole operation, based on some estimates, It would take 3 years of work and would involve analyzing about 110.000 tons of garbage at a cost of $11 million. While Plan B would cost $6 million and take 18 months.
The whole story seems absurd and incredible, but James Howells is supported by team of specialists, as well as Hanspeter Jaberg and Karl Wendeborn, two venture capitalists ready to provide the $11 million needed if Howells gets the board's approval. "Obviously it's like looking for a needle in a haystack and it's a very high risk investment“, Jaberg told Business Insider.
James also planned to install a security system, that is, video cameras that film the area 24 hours a day and two robot dogs Spot to patrol the area at night and search for the hard drive during the day. In case someone wants to find his “treasure” first.
"We do not want to harm the environment in any way.“, Howells explained. “If anything, we want to leave everything in a better condition.” His plan also calls for building a solar or wind farm on top of the landfill once the “treasure hunt".
But is the council in favor of this ambitious project? A representative told Business Insider that “There is nothing Mr Howells can present to us that will get the council to agree. His proposals pose a significant ecological risk, which we cannot accept.“. In short, there seems to be very little hope reading this statement.
In case Howells fails to get permission from the council this time though could take legal action. "I've been reluctant to go that route in the past because I didn't mean to cause trouble. I wanted to work with the Newport City Council".
If the operation succeeds and all the Bitcoins are found, James Howells will keep approximately 30% of the value, will then give one third to the recovery team, 30% to investors and the remaining part will be used for local purposes, including donating £50 in Bitcoin to each of Newport’s 150.000 residents.
Article published on 28 July 2022 - 20:53
