A UK judge denied a man's request to retrieve a hard drive containing Bitcoin from a city dump. According to the owner, the wallet has now appreciated to almost $750 million and could even reach $1 billion in the coming year. However, the city claims ownership of the hard drive. For 12 years, James Howells has been attempting to gain permission from Newport officials to search the landfill for his old hard drive believed to hold nearly $750 million in Bitcoin.
Last Thursday, a judge shut down Howells' hopes of finding his lost Bitcoins by rejecting his lawsuit and stating that his chances of success were slim if the case continued. This ordeal began in 2013 when Howells unintentionally left his laptop containing his Bitcoin wallet, which held 7,500 Bitcoins at the time, in a garbage bag in his hallway. Unfortunately, his partner mistook the bag for trash and disposed of it. Back then, each Bitcoin was only worth around $100. Now, its value has skyrocketed to over $93,000 and just yesterday alone, it increased by more than $725 per coin. Despite offering to share the Bitcoin's worth with the city and pay for the excavation himself, Howells has been met with rejection from officials. They claim that obtaining environmental permits would make a search impossible and maintain that the hard drive now belongs to the city since it was discarded in their landfill.
The judge deemed the city council's argument regarding ownership of the hard drive to be compelling and a sufficient response to the claim, making further legal action not worthwhile. The ruling stated, "Based on the information provided, it appears that this case lacks reasonable merit and would most likely not succeed if taken to trial." Therefore, Howells intends to appeal the decision to the UK supreme court. This article was initially published on Fortune.com.