A Welsh IT professional who lost £ 275 million ($ 380 million) worth of bitcoins after accidentally dumping his hard drive planned a year-long search of a landfill using specialized x-ray machines and AI technology.

James Howells, 35, who offered to pay his councilor £ 55 million ($ 75 million) to search the hard drive in a 200-meter area of ​​a Newport, Wales landfill.

James plans to spend a year looking for this dump in Wales, UK.

Can’t find no further losing

James accidentally broke a hard drive containing 11,500 bitcoins while cleaning his office in 2013, at a time when the price per bitcoin was around $ 100.

In a year-long search, he reached out to engineers, environmentalists, and data recovery experts from around the world.

James said his plan was backed by a super-rich hedge fund that was willing to pay the cost of the search and related equipment in exchange for some of the assets it contained.

But Newport City Council chiefs were stubborn and didn’t even listen to him – no matter how much money he promised them, James said.

“Bitcoin’s value has gone up and down since I made my offer in January – if we were to restore the hard drive today it would be worth £ 275 million,” he told the newspaper. The sun.

“This will be a real search – not someone who digs with a bucket and shovel. We have a system with multiple conveyor belts, X-ray scanners, and AI devices that are designed to detect things that are about the size of hard drives. “

James said his plan was backed by a super rich hedge fund

He added, “This is going to be a nifty find because we don’t want to damage the hard drive in the process – you can’t just use a gripper.”

“We spoke to the appropriate excavation experts and engineers to make sure everything was done properly and safely for the environment.”

“For the past four or five months, I’ve also spoken to some of the best data recovery experts in the world to make sure we can get BTC off the hard drive.”

James, of Newport, said the scanning device alone would cost more than £ 500,000, and a wringer to clean debris would cost an additional £ 100,000.

However, the council did not listen to him explain the idea or allow James to meet with authorities to work out his plan, he said.

“If you listen to me, you know that the council is safe.”

“I offered them £ 55million in January, but now they say ‘no’ no matter how much money there is.”

James said he studied aerial photographs of the site in Newport, Wales

James said he studied aerial photographs of the site and believes the hard drive is in a square area 200 meters wide and possibly 15 meters deep.

“We estimate that there is around 300,000 to 400,000 tons of waste,” he said.

City council doesn’t believe hard drives can work after 8 years

Newport Council said James had asked for help repeatedly – but they said they couldn’t help him.

A spokesman said: “Newport City Council has been contacted several times since 2014 about the possibility of recovering a hard drive believed to contain Bitcoin.

The first time was a few months after Mr. James found his hard drive was missing.

“The costs of digging a landfill, storing and disposing of the waste can run into the millions – with no guarantee that it will be found or that it will still function properly.”

“The town council has also advised Mr. James on several occasions that excavations would not be possible with our permits and that the excavations themselves would have a major impact on the environment,” the spokesman said.

“Even if we can agree to his request, the question remains who will bear the costs if the hard drive cannot be found or is so damaged that the data cannot be recovered.”

“We have therefore made it clear that the Council cannot support him on this matter.”

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