A Welsh landfill dump where 8,000 Bitcoins are thought to be buried will be repurposed, at least partly, into a solar farm. According to BBC News, the local council will close the landfill in the 2025-26 financial year, and then it will be capped. Planning permission has been secured to develop a solar farm at the capped site. However, the man who lost the massive Bitcoin haul on a discarded portable HDD today said he was surprised by the council’s plans and has proposed a buyout of the site ‘as is.’
We last reported in January on the tale of this buried digital treasure trove worth over $780 million at today’s exchange rate. We thought we might have read the last chapter of this sad tale, as a high court ruling appeared to dash former crypto miner James Howells’ last hopes of getting his BTC HDD back (or any financial compensation).
However, we now have an epilogue where the land above the buried BTC becomes a solar farm. Rather poetically, the new solar farm will reclaim some of the energy frittered away by crypto mining. This seems to be an interactive novel, though, as an alternative ending to the saga was provided today, with Howells’ proposal to purchase the landfill site, which is hoping to dig up the old HDD and recover its digital treasure.
Howells expressed his surprise at the imminent landfill closure plans. “If Newport city council would be willing, I would potentially be interested in purchasing the landfill site ‘as is,'” said the lost BTC HDD’s original owner, optimistically. He said he had already spoken to his investment partners about a buyout: “It is something that is very much on the table.”
Previous reports indicated that Howells and his consortium were willing to spend about $13 million on a site excavation lasting up to 36 months to recover the drive. We would expect a site purchase figure to be even higher. A buyout today would also save the council the expense of capping the site, where multiple layers of aggregates, barriers, and pipework are used to cover the enormous plot of waste safely.
The BBC report says Newport Council secured planning permission for the solar farm on part of the land last August. The harvested solar energy is hoped to power the council’s electric bin lorries (or refuse trucks, dustcarts, RCVs, or whatever else you might call them). Newport already has seven electric lorries in its fleet and hopes to phase out diesel vehicles over the coming years. The nearby household recycling center will remain operational.
Keeping a Bitcoin wallet on a portable HDD in a desk drawer might not be the worst idea if not for any calamitous mishap. However, trusting your crypto with other people, businesses, or organizations can be hazardous. Over the relatively short history of cryptocurrencies, coin holders have lost huge fortunes through hacks and bankruptcies of prominent exchanges, channels, and platforms like the Ronin Network, the Binance BNB Bridge, FTX, and the infamous Mt. Gox.
