A woman in Wales accidentally disposed of a hard drive that contained her boyfriend’s Bitcoin key, now worth an estimated $720 million (£569 million). The incident happened nearly a decade ago when Halfina Eddy-Evans took her then-boyfriend James Howells’ trash to the Newport landfill at his request. Among the items discarded was a hard drive holding the key to 8,000 Bitcoins that Howells mined in 2009 but had forgotten about.
Eddy-Evans recently defended herself, stating she only threw out the items Howells asked her to and hopes he finds the hard drive to put the matter to rest. “I’d love nothing more than him to find it. I’m sick and tired of hearing about it,” she explained, insisting it wasn’t her fault. However, Howells has previously claimed the hard drive was thrown away without his consent.
The incident has sparked a lengthy battle between Howells and the local council, as he fights for permission to excavate the landfill in hopes of recovering the lost fortune. Howells has proposed using his own funds for the search and even pledged 10% of the Bitcoin’s value to benefit the local area if successful.
While the search remains unresolved, the story has become a cautionary tale about the perils of misplaced digital wealth. For Howells, the stakes couldn’t be higher, as his potential fortune lies buried under tons of waste.
