James Howells believes his lost hard drive, which contains 8,000 Bitcoins, is in a landfill site.

Summary

James Howells lost 8,000 Bitcoins worth over £500 million when he accidentally threw away a hard drive containing his private key.

He has been trying to retrieve the hard drive from a Newport landfill for over a decade, but the council has refused to allow him access.

Howells is now suing the council for £495 million in damages.

  • VoroxpeteEnglish
    213·
    7 hours ago

    With headlines like this, it’s always important to keep in mind that bitcoin is such a thinly traded (and largely artificial) market that actually trying to sell 8,000 Btc for real dollars/pounds would instantly and catastrophically crash the price.

    • tired_n_bored@lemmy.worldEnglish
      91·
      6 hours ago

      I agree with everything you said but 8000 bitcoin won’t move the price much. We’ve seen management firms buying hundreds of millions worth of bitcoins

      • VoroxpeteEnglish
        82·
        6 hours ago

        Different dynamics. Buys require sellers, of which there are a fair amount (though few enough still that large purchases absolutely do shift the price significantly; we’ve seen multiple instances of Tether bringing the price up by 20% or more for the cost of billion newly minted USDT). Sells require buyers, which are in very short supply.