James Howellsetched into the history books because it was accidentally thrown away Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC), which is worth over half a billion dollars today, has taken a big step in recovering it.
What happened: In a last-ditch effort, the Wales-based software engineer has filed a lawsuit against Newport City Council for approximately 495.31 million British pounds, or about $647 million, in damages for repeatedly refusing his request to fill up the landfill dig where the discarded hard drive was located. , which contains approximately 8,000 Bitcoin units, as reported by WalesOnline.
Howells explained that the lawsuit is a strategy to convince the municipality to allow the excavation of the landfill, and not a reflection of the actual situation.
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Howells has put together a team of specialists to carry out the excavation free of charge for the municipality. He has also proposed giving the council 10% of the value of the recovered coins.
The case will be heard in December. However, Newport Council has dismissed the lawsuit as “weak” and raised concerns about the potential environmental impact of the proposed excavation.
Why it matters: The bizarre case dates back to 2013, when Howells unintentionally threw a hard drive containing 8,000 BTCs into the trash while cleaning his office.
The compensation Howells sought was the stock’s peak valuation from earlier this year, when the leading cryptocurrency spiked to a new all-time high.
At the time of writing, 8,000 BTCs are worth $514.37 million, at a market price of $64,296.34 per unit.
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This article Man who accidentally threw a hard drive containing 8,000 Bitcoins worth half a billion dollars into the landfill is suing local council for not excavating the site. Originally appeared on Benzinga.com
