UK Landfill with Lost Hard Drive Containing 8K Bitcoins to Close

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A landfill site, where a man had misplaced a hard drive containing a valuable Bitcoin wallet now worth approximately £620m, is scheduled to shut down.

James Howells, a resident of Newport, had made a claim that his former partner had mistakenly disposed of the hard drive containing 8,000 bitcoins in 2013.

In an effort to gain access to the waste disposal site at Docks Way or receive £495m in compensation, he had taken the city’s council to court. However, the court had dismissed his claim.

According to documents from the Newport council, the landfill site is expected to cease operations in the 2025-26 financial year, while the city’s household waste recycling centre, located to the north, will remain open. A council spokesperson stated that the landfill has been operational since the early 2000s and is nearing the end of its lifespan. Therefore, the council is working on a planned closure and covering of the site over the next two years.