IT worker James Howells, 36, began mining Bitcoin back in 2009 when it was basically worthless, and had stored 8,000 units on his PC by the time it was accidentally binned in 2013.

In the years since, the price of Bitcoin has seen extreme highs and extreme lows, with James’s Bitcoin now worth around £740,000,000 (way up from 230M when we initially wrote about him). Only problem is – it’s buried under literal tons of waste in a landfill site in Newport.

Not only that, but after 10+ years of pleading with Newport City Council for permission to search the site – even offering them a £55m reward if he finds the hard drive – they still won’t let him dig for the device, insisting they are bound by their licensing permit.

Earlier this year, Howells took legal action against Newport City Council and even explored the possibility of buying the land outright to fund an extensive, high-tech search operation for his digital treasure. Again, the council refused, and Howells ended up losing the case.

Which brings us to today, where according to Bitcoin Archive, Howells has finally conceded defeat and accepted that he’s never going to get his hard drive back. Absolutely gutted for the guy.

As if he wasn’t feeling bad enough, his 8,000 BTC is expected to be worth some $8 billion by 2030 if Bitcoin continues on trajectory that it’s on. The guy was on course to becoming a billionaire! All gone because of a moment of carelessness where he (or his girlfriend, depending on who you believe) accidentally threw out the wrong hard-drive during a clear-out.

There is one silver lining for James, however. The BBC reports that his story is due to be adapted into a TV series by an American production company who purchased the rights to his Bitcoin blunder earlier this year. It might not make him a billionaire, but it will be a nice chunk of change for him, for sure.

Howells even claimed he received over 200 offers from BAFTA and Emmy-winning production companies for the rights, adding: “Every man and his dog wanted to film this.”

Fair play, James. I actually hope the series is a big success for him because I honestly can’t imagine the pain and stress of what he’s been going through for the last 10+ years. The guy should be sipping cocktails under a palm tree on a private island just enjoying his life without a care in the world, but instead he’s had to deal with spiraling costs and repeated failed attempts at trying to get his lost Bitcoin back.

Very harsh by Newport Council to not even give him a chance, especially after he’d offered them a very generous percentage of his Bitcoin in return (presuming he would find it). What else can you say really? C’est la vie.

For the crypto bro named NFT Nick who is currently at war with the internet for ‘faking’ his wealthy lifestyle, click HERE.