James Howells mined bitcoin for four years.
BBC News
James Howells from Newport, Wales, has offered his city council a 25% cut of his 7,500 bitcoins if it allows him to excavate the landfill where he threw it away in 2013.
Howells' bitcoin is now worth around $275 million as bitcoin is trading around $37,000 at the time of writing.
However, Newport City Council told CNN in a statement that it was not allowed to excavate the site, warning of a "huge environmental impact on the surrounding area," "without any guarantee of either finding [the hard drive] or it still being in working order."
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In 2013, British IT worker James Howells accidentally threw away a hard drive with a digital wallet containing 7,500 little known and virtually worthless Bitcoin.Fast forward, and at the time of writing, Bitcoin is trading at around $37,000, and his store would be worth in the region of $275 million.Now, the Newport, Wales, local has offered his city council a vast sum of money if it allows him to excavate a landfill site where he believes the hard drive has been disposed of.
Howells told CNN: "I offered to donate 25% or A?52.5 million ($71.7 million) to the city of Newport in order to distribute to all local residents who live in Newport should I find and recover the Bitcoins.
