The story of a certain unlucky British man, which recurs during every cryptocurrency boom, has received a twist. James Howells, who claims to have thrown away a hard drive containing the private keys to 8,000 BTC in 2013, intends to tokenize his lost items to fund further searches.
The story of 8,000 BTC that accidentally ended up in a landfill in Newport, UK, has been generating media interest for years, with media outlets calculating the value of the lost item during each bull market to generate a new record bitcoin valuation. At the current mid-July peak, when BTC exceeded $122,000, this would be $982 million. At the time of this publication, following recent declines, the lost item's valuation is closer to $910 million.
James Howells claims that in 2013, his ex-partner mistakenly threw away a hard drive containing the private keys protecting access to 8,000 bitcoins. The 39-year-old British man allegedly unearthed the keys in the early days of the cryptocurrency and has been trying to recover them for over 10 years. During that time, he has tried a variety of solutions, from private equity financing the dig to a proposal to completely purchase a landfill in Newport.
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In March 2025, the British Court of Appeal rejected Howells' application for permission to excavate the landfill site, with Judge Christopher Nugee ruling that the case had “no realistic chance of success.” Despite this, the Briton insists he's not giving up. “The city has had the opportunity to engage with me and negotiate on favorable terms for 10 years. What more do you expect from me? Should I gather an army and attack the king himself?” he commented in an interview with Cointelegraph.
Lost Tokens
On July 1, Howells submitted a formal offer worth between $33 million and $40 million to acquire and excavate the Newport landfill. This offer was submitted to the leader of the Newport City Council. To raise funds for the landfill acquisition, the miner announced plans to launch a token based on Ordinals (Bitcoin's layer two). The issuance would equal 21% of the value of the lost portfolio.
Howells said he plans to convert his legal ownership of the lost 8,000 BTC into a smart token called Ceiniog Coin (INI), taking advantage of an upcoming network upgrade. He added that the token launch is planned for October, with an initial coin offering (ICO) later this year.
There are many industry insiders who are skeptical of this idea. Harry Donnelly, founder and CEO of Circuit, told Cointelegraph that the chances of recovering the funds are very slim and that he wouldn't consider Howells' tokens to be backed by lost bitcoins, but rather a kind of memecoin (a token with no fundamental value whose valuation depends on fashion and publicity).
Even if the token issuance doesn't go through, the landfill doesn't change hands, or the excavations don't yield 8,000 BTC, Howell has already managed to monetize his story to some extent. This year, the rights to create a documentary series, podcast, and short-form content based on it were acquired by the Los Angeles-based entertainment company LEBUL.
The series, titled “The Buried Bitcoin: The Real-Life Treasure Hunt of James Howells,” will explore the origins of bitcoin, Howells' search, his legal battle, and his plans for the dig. “Everyone and their dogs wanted to film it,” Howell commented, according to the BBC, claiming he had received around 200 offers from filmmakers around the world, including the companies behind BAFTA- and Emmy-winning films.
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