James Howells, the Welsh computer engineer who accidentally disposed of a laptop hard drive containing the private key for 8,000 Bitcoin in the Docksway landfill in Newport, Wales, in 2013, has finally given up his search after 12 long years. The missing cryptocurrency, valued at £500,000 at the time, is now estimated to be worth nearly $950 million.The hard drive, reportedly located in a 15,000-tonne section named Cell 2, was approximately three to five feet underground in Docksway landfill by November 2013. While Howells spent 12 years pursuing his lost Bitcoin, from proposing high-end excavation plans to seeking permission from the Newport City Council, they were all in vain. After the Council announced that the landfill would be closing, Howells finally walked away from the search in August 2025.More on this in our story.Here's James Howells' Bitcoin sagaJames Howells, who had always been infatuated with technology, began building computers at the age of 13 and became a Napster user around the time Bitcoin was on the rise. After studying the concept in December 2008, he adopted it in 2009.In February 2009, Howells mined 400–800 digital coins intermittently overnight for two months. The Telegraph and The New Yorker even recognized Howells as one of the earliest miners in the network, after his device held around 32 kilobytes of cryptocurrency private keys till 2009.However, tragedy knocked at James Howells' home between 20 June and 10 August 2013, when he accidentally threw the encrypted hard drive, containing the cryptographic private key for 8,000 Bitcoin, during a home clean-up. Reportedly, Howells 'begged' Hafina Eddy-Evans (his girlfriend at the time) to take the trash, with the hard drive worth £500,000 at the time, to the landfill. While Eddy-Evans had denied any responsibility, Howells blames her 'subconsciously.'James Howells' efforts to recover the lost BitcoinWhile Howells initially accepted that his digital currency was lost for good, he eventually assembled a team of specialists and secured funding to excavate the site. However, the Newport City Council refused excavation due to cost concerns, health risks to city residents, and environmental risks, including dangerous gases such as methane, toxic leachate and potential landfill fires.In January 2021, Howells even offered the council 25% of the Bitcoin (then valued at approximately £200 million). But the council maintained that it was not permitted to excavate the site.In the following years, Howells adopted plans to recover the lost cryptocurrency, including financial support from a hedge fund that would help in search & data recovery and the use of artificial intelligence. Further ideas included using drones, Boston Dynamics robotic dogs and even recruiting a team of AI specialists and environmental specialists.After a legal battle in the High Court and the Court of Appeal, Judge Keyser dismissed James Howells' claim in January 2025, maintaining that there is no real prospect of finding the lost Bitcoin.In February 2025, the Council announced that the landfill would be closed, prompting Howells to purchase a portion of the landfill for £25 million. However, the last-ditch effort went out the window when the Council revealed that Howells owed £117,000 in legal fees from his previous litigation, which needed to be paid before discussing the terms of the purchase.In August 2025, Howells finally decided to rest the case and give up his search for the lost Bitcoin. The computer engineer is now focused on developing his own cryptocurrency called Ceiniog Coin.James Howells' decision marks the end of one of the longest-running treasure hunts in the digital age. The story has now become an important cautionary tale about digital asset security and the extraordinary value that can be locked away in a single misplaced device.For the latest scoops on your favorite TV shows and movies, follow SoapCentral.