Bitcoin for PLN 3.5 billion in a landfill. The owner gave up

After 12 years, James Howells decided to end one of the most famous and tragic stories related to cryptocurrencies. The man, who in 2013 accidentally threw out a hard disk with a portfolio access key containing 8000 Bitcoins, gave up further attempts to regain digital property. The disk went to the landfill in Newport, and its content at the current Bitcoin exchange rate is worth about PLN 3.5 billion.

Lost bitcoins

Howells, who began his adventure with cryptocurrencies as early as in 2009, himself mined bitcoins. At a time when he lost access to his portfolio, the accumulated BTC had a value below a million dollars. Over the years, he tried to recover access to the treasury, but to no avail – he was repeatedly refused to search the dump on which the disk was most likely.

James Howells’ recent entries on platform X mean a radical change in his approach. The man announced that he ends his efforts for official permits and will no longer seek the consent of the local authorities. Instead, he plans to tokenize the lost wallet.

A way to recover money

As he announced, he intends to introduce a digital token named Ceiniog Coin (ina), whose total broadcast will be 800 billion units – one for each satoshi (the smallest part of Bitcoin) located in the lost wallet. The project is to be based on Bitcoin blockchain, using the OP_RETURN functions and integration with Runes, Ordinals and Stacks solutions.

The goal of Howells is to transfer the value of frozen bitcoins to new tokens that can be distributed and put into circulation. Although it will no longer regain access to primary funds, the new concept is to allow it to obtain at least part of the value of lost property.