A computer engineer, James Howells, has cried out for assistance after he mistakenly threw away Bitcoin worth £230 million (N123bn).
The 35-year-old is offering his local government the sum of £55 million (N29bn) if they can help him recover a hard drive he threw away which contains the Bitcoin wallet.
According to LADBible, James said he mistakenly threw out the drive containing the keys to the Bitcoins in 2013.
The engineer said
“There’s pot of gold for someone at the end of the rainbow – and that ends in the landfill site.”
James was clearing out his office of old laptops and other broken gadgets when disposed of the device. According to the engineer, he threw the hard drive away because it bears a striking similarity to another one that was no longer working.
He said as painful as the whole experience is for him, he just has been laughing it off because there is nothing he could do.
He offered to give away 25% of the fortune as a reward if the government can help him locate it.
When he was asked if the hard disk would still be good after all these years, he said there is some chance he can recover some of the data on it.
James said he would be giving the Newport council the money so that it could be used to help families who are struggling with the economic effects of COVID-19.
The Newport City Council said that the cost of going on a recovery mission would cost millions of pounds.
They said that in the case that the hard disk is not found, someone would have to bear the cost of the excavation. Another issue the mission is facing is that it is against the law to dig things up in that council.
