You know, there are stories that simply captivate the imagination. James Howell's story is one of them. The guy mined Bitcoin in 2009 as a hobby, completely unaware that he was holding the future fortune. Eight thousand coins, which are now worth nearly 800 million dollars. But here’s the thing: he lost them. Just threw the hard drive into the trash.

When I first heard this story, I thought it was some kind of movie. But no, this is real life. James Howell spilled lemonade on his laptop, the hard drive overheated, and the wallet keys remained inside. He couldn’t transfer them to a new computer due to compatibility issues with Apple. At the time, it just seemed like junk—old hardware taking up space. In 2013, he asked his girlfriend Halfina to help get rid of old stuff. She agreed, not knowing she was taking a fortune to the dump.

The most interesting part is that Halfina herself recently came forward and shared her version. She confirmed that she threw away the disk but insists it wasn’t her decision. James supposedly asked her to do it. Now she’s tired of being blamed for the loss. People are writing to her online, asking why she threw it away. But she says: it was his request, she just didn’t know what was inside.

The thing is, when Bitcoin’s value started rising, James Howell realized the scale of the loss. He became obsessed with finding that disk. Halfina says it destroyed their relationship. He couldn’t talk about anything else. His obsession became a problem in their family, where they have teenagers.

Now James Howell is engaged in a legal battle with the Newport City Council. The landfill where the disk was thrown away is under their control, and they refuse to allow excavations. The council cites environmental risks—the landfill contains over one and a half million tons of waste. Even if James narrowed the search to 100,000 tons, it would still be a huge operation. Authorities say it would harm the environment and violate landfill permits.

In response, James Howell filed a lawsuit for $620 million in compensation. The first court hearing was scheduled for December 3. He claims it’s his property and has all rights to recover it. The council, in turn, insists on dismissing the lawsuit.

Halfina says she just wants him to find that disk—not for the money, but for his mental health. She believes the council should simply allow him to dig. Maybe then he’ll finally calm down. She herself is tired of the whole story. For her, it’s no longer about the money, but about closing this chapter.

If Bitcoin prices continue to rise, James Howell’s loss could exceed a billion dollars. He promised to use part of the recovered fortune to develop Newport—pledged 10% of the proceeds. But that seems a distant prospect. For now, the treasure remains buried—literally and legally. And such is the story—one of the strangest in cryptocurrency history.