James Howells accidentally discarded a hard drive in 2013 that contained 8,000 BTC, now worth over $900 million.
After 12 years of excavation attempts and legal battles, Howells is abandoning physical recovery.
He plans to launch a DeFi token symbolically backed by the lost Bitcoin, using it as a digital “vault.”
Critics view the move as a narrative-driven or memecoin-style project rather than a utility token.
His story is being adapted into a docuseries and podcast called “The Buried Bitcoin”.
For 12 years, James Howells dedicated time, money, and legal firepower to retrieve a hard drive worth over $900 million at current Bitcoin prices.
The saga began in 2013 when Howells mistakenly threw away the device during a routine office cleanup. At the time, each BTC was worth under $1.
Source: Bitinfocharts.com
Today, that loss represents one of the largest known personal crypto misplacements in history.
Howells pursued multiple recovery strategies, including:
Legal appeals to gain excavation rights
A $33 million offer to purchase the landfill outright
Advanced drone and AI surveys to locate the device
However, in March 2025, the UK Court of Appeal shut down the latest excavation attempt, stating there was “no real prospect of success.”
“They had the chance to engage and negotiate with me on favorable terms for 10 years. What else do you want me to try? Shall I raise an army and march on the King himself?”
With all physical recovery routes effectively closed, James Howells is channeling his efforts into a new venture, a DeFi project built on Bitcoin.
Rather than relying on the actual coins, he aims to tokenize the idea of the 8,000 lost BTC. The project involves creating a layer-2 DeFi network where the lost Bitcoin becomes a symbolic reserve.
In this model, the landfill effectively becomes a “vault”, permanently inaccessible yet visible, making it a foundation for a narrative-backed token.
“We won’t need to access the 8,000 Bitcoin wallet because the new token is a representation of it, that’s the whole point. The landfill becomes a vault no one can open, but everyone can see.”
Not everyone is sold on the concept. Critics argue that the token’s value will rest more on storytelling than substance.
Harry Donelly, CEO of Circuit, said:
“You’d have to multiply the very low chance of recovering the Bitcoin by the low chance the token would be recognized as a valid claim.”
Still, while skepticism remains, Howells seems undeterred.
Despite the outcome of the recovery mission, James Howells’ story continues to captivate the public imagination.
In April 2025, he signed a deal with Los Angeles–based production company Lebul to adapt his experience into a multimedia franchise.
Titled “The Buried Bitcoin”, the upcoming docuseries and podcast aim to immortalize one of crypto’s most notorious misadventures.
With exclusive rights secured, the series will dive deep into the personal, legal, and technological challenges behind Howells’ lost fortune.
James Howells is a British IT worker who famously lost a hard drive containing 8,000 BTC in 2013. His long-running effort to recover the drive from a landfill gained global media attention.
The drive is buried deep in a Newport landfill, and local authorities have repeatedly denied permission for excavation, citing environmental and safety concerns. A UK court officially rejected his appeal in March 2025.
The new project aims to create a token based on the symbolic value of the lost Bitcoin. Instead of representing actual spendable BTC, the token will leverage the narrative and scarcity of the lost coins as its foundation.
No. The token is not backed by real, accessible Bitcoin. It represents a symbolic claim, making it more of a story-driven or memecoin-style digital asset.
Yes. Howells signed a deal with a Hollywood production company in 2025. The project, The Buried Bitcoin, will be a docuseries and podcast covering his lost crypto saga.
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