The guy who accidentally threw away 8,000 Bitcoin will now sort through 110,000 tons of garbage with robot dogs and A.I. to get it back
A man by the name of James Howells mistakenly threw away a hard drive containing 8,000 Bitcoins that he mined back in 2009 worth nearly $184 million.
Now, Howells is attempting to find the hard drive after raising $11 million in venture capital funding. His plan is to sort through 110,000 tons of garbage in order to find the hard drive using human sorters, robot dogs, and an AI-powered scanner.
Blockchain News — James Howells, a Bitcoiner that mistakenly threw away a hard drive containing 8,000 Bitcoin units he mined back in 2009, has reportedly put up a highly specialised team to help dig up the landfill where the hard drive allegedly ended up.
Since he realised the mistake, Howells has been petitioning the Newport City Council to let him dig up the hard drive from the landfill that is estimated to contain around 110,000 tons of garbage. The plan to excavate the garbage is billed to be backed by as much as $11 million in venture capital funding.
The two investors that have promised the funds, including Hanspeter Jaberg and Karl Wendeborn, are not going to release it until Howells gets the City Council’s approval to dig up the site.
“It’s obviously a needle in the haystack, and it’s a very, very high-risk investment,” said Jaberg, and Howells confirmed that he has not signed any deal with the backers that can make anything binding yet.
Besides himself, Howells will sift through the garbage with the help of human sorters, robot dogs, and an AI-powered scanner that looks like a conveyor belt. Data analysts will also be working with the team.
Welcome to 2022, folks. We now have what could be the greatest comeback story of all-time on our hands. How on earth does someone accidentally throw away a hard drive with 8,000 Bitcoins? I have no idea and honestly, it seems pretty careless, but you have to respect Howells for doing everything possible to get it back.
Depending on the deal, it seems like a pretty solid investment for anyone who’s willing to throw up some serious cash to find the hard drive.
Howells and company are looking at a major payday if they can find this hard drive. I’m not even sure why they went public with this plan. If I was in the Newport area, I would be neck deep in trash looking for that hard drive right now. Sure, Bitcoin is down right now but even if you had a thousand people looking through trash, everyone is still walking home with their pockets full. It’s a no brainer.
I’m still wondering what happened to the few Bitcoin I had in college that the FBI seized when they shut down the Silk Road. Maybe if this hard drive gets recovered Howells will break off a piece of the prize with everyone who got royally screwed by the federal government?
At the very least, the robot dogs will be where they belong in the middle of a junkyard rather than in Russia with machine guns strapped to their heads.
