#UK court halts treasure hunt plan#
Hot Topic Overview
Overview
A UK court has rejected IT engineer James Howells' application to search a landfill for $735 million worth of Bitcoin. Howells accidentally discarded the hard drive containing the Bitcoin in 2013 and has been trying to persuade Newport City Council to allow him access to the landfill ever since. However, the judge ruled that the case had "no realistic prospect of success" at trial, citing environmental risks as a major reason. Newport City Council has consistently refused access to the landfill, concerned about the environmental pollution that excavation could cause. Howells mined the Bitcoin in 2009, when it cost only a few cents to do so.
Ace Hot Topic Analysis
Analysis
A UK court has rejected IT engineer James Howells' application to search a Newport landfill for a hard drive containing $735 million worth of Bitcoin. Howells accidentally discarded the hard drive containing the Bitcoin in 2013 and has been trying to persuade Newport City Council to allow him access to the landfill to search for it. However, the court found that the plan posed significant environmental risks and had "no realistic prospect of success" at trial. Judge Keyser KC noted that excavating the landfill would generate large amounts of harmful gases and could contaminate groundwater, causing irreversible damage to the environment. Furthermore, even if the hard drive were found, there was no guarantee that the data could be recovered. As a result, the court ultimately denied Howells' application, dashing his hopes of recovering the Bitcoin.
Public Sentiment · Discussion Word Cloud
Public Sentiment
Discussion Word Cloud
Classic Views
Environmental risks are the main obstacle: The court ruled that searching for Bitcoin in the landfill would pose significant environmental risks, thus rejecting the application.
Success is highly unlikely: The judge believes that the action of searching for Bitcoin in the landfill is almost impossible to succeed, so there is no need for a trial.
City council refused to cooperate: The Newport City Council has consistently refused to allow access to the landfill, making the Bitcoin search plan impossible to implement.
Bitcoin value is enormous: The hard drive stores Bitcoin worth $735 million, making the search action highly anticipated.