News Man who lost half-billion dollar Bitcoin HDD sues local authority for $500 million for not letting him dig through landfill

[Admin]

A Welsh man whose partner accidentally threw out an HDD containing 8,000 Bitcoins has become increasingly desperate to recoup the lost treasure. Now, he is suing the council.

Man who lost half-billion dollar Bitcoin HDD sues local authority for $500 million for not letting him dig through landfill : Read more

 

[acadia11]

Grounds for divorce irreconcilable differences! No one asked you to clean up my hard drives! Why would you see a piece of electronic laying about and think to throw it away?

 

[why_wolf]

I have to imagine the reason they said no is because they don't believe he actually has the money to repair the dump after he rips it open. This is very much a "cash up-front" type situation.

 

[Dementoss]

The Council is correct, that once collected all rubbish becomes council property here in the UK. I suspect his partner would not have accidentally thrown the HDD away, if he had put it away safely...

There is an old saying here, an idiot and his money, are soon parted.

 

[Christopher_115]

I'm far from a Bitcoin expert, but isn't the idea that a hard drive can "contain 8000 Bitcoins" completely erroneous and not at all how Bitcoin works?

I guess the hard drive contained his wallet id, and he didn't have it stored anywhere else?

 

[USAFRet]

I guess the hard drive contained his wallet id, and he didn't have it stored anywhere else?

Yes, this.

 

[Hartemis]

I suspect his partner would not have accidentally thrown the HDD away, if he had put it away safely...

Are you serious? You see a hard drive lying around, and the first thing you think of is throwing it in the garbage can?
A yoghurt pot, all right, but a storage medium, a USB stick or a keyring? I'm thinking more of a couple's revenge. Not an accident.

 

[USAFRet]

Are you serious? You see a hard drive lying around, and the first thing you think of is throwing it in the garbage can?
A yoghurt pot, all right, but a storage medium, a USB stick or a keyring? I'm thinking more of a couple's revenge. Not an accident.

Or, a box of junk that happened to have the drive in it.

We have ZERO information of how it got tossed, so anything from out here is mere speculation.

 

[thesloth77]

Even if he was granted full permission to search as long as he wants, he can search until he's blue in the face. He's NEVER going to find it. Do you know how much trash moves around in 12 years, not to mention the hell the hard drive would have been through over the years. It would probably be destroyed by the elements anyway. It could be burried 20 feet in the ground. Forget it. It's not happening. He's wasting his time even trying. As well, he would need to know the model of the HD, serial number to make sure its the same one. This is not realistically possible. Ya know what, the local authority should just say: Ok, go ahead and search.... and he will.... then.... 6 months to a year passes and the authorities will be like.... ya happy now? No? Ok, well get lost. What's he going to do? Live in the landfill with equipment searching his whole life, and doing all the maintanence on it. Who is going to pay for all this? He's forgetting that there's a thing called real world friction. He's NEVER going to find it. He's insane to think trying to find it is a good idea. Gawd knows how many hundred square miles by how many feet deep it could be. There's no way to narrow it down. Think of how many hard drives have hit the landfill over the last 12 years. This whole idea is completely absurd. I think the guy needs to check into some therapy or something.

On the other hand, he might have a quick look and find it

 

[kb7rky]

On the other hand, he might have a quick look and find it

SHSHSHSHSHSHSH! That makes too much sense!