After more than a decade of digging through disappointment and red tape, James Howells, the man who is famously known for losing 8000 Bitcoin, is making one last move. At a recent Bitcoin conference 2025, Howells said that he’s preparing a $75 million plan involving tokenizing part of his missing fortune to raise
But time is running out. The landfill is now facing closure, and the council still hasn’t granted him access.
The Man Who Lost 8,000 Bitcoins
James Howells, a British computer expert from Newport, Wales, accidentally threw away a hard drive in 2013. That hard drive, he says, contains the private keys to 8,000 Bitcoins, worth hundreds of millions of dollars today.
For years, he’s fought to search the local landfill where he believes the drive is buried, but city officials have refused his requests, citing environmental and safety concerns.
New Plan To Recover Lost Bitcoin
Now, with the Newport City Council preparing to permanently shut down the landfill, Howells says he’s out of time and patience. Instead of begging for permission again, he plans to raise $75 million by tokenizing 1,675 of the 8,000 lost Bitcoins.
These tokens will be sold as ordinals, a type of digital asset stored directly on the Bitcoin blockchain.
This chunk represents about 21% of the lost coins, and the funds will go toward buying the landfill outright. “We’ll make them an offer they can’t refuse,” said Howells, clearly determined to take matters into his own hands.
Lights, Camera, Landfill
Howells’s story is more than just another crypto headline it’s a modern treasure hunt with emotional stakes. Recently, a U.S.-based production company named LEBUL has secured the exclusive rights to turn his journey into a documentary. Filming is expected to take place over the summer, with a release planned for October or November.
Howells said he’s “excited” to finally tell the story in his own words. “This is the first time I can show the world exactly what we want to do at the landfill site,” he added.
“Once people see this documentary, they won’t think this is a crazy plan—they’ll see it’s very achievable.”
