James Howells, the British man who famously lost access to 8,000 Bitcoin in a 2013 landfill accident, is setting the record straight. Taking to X (formerly Twitter), Howells pushed back against recent social media claims that he has abandoned his search. He firmly denied the rumors and revealed a new strategy to reclaim his lost fortune, now worth roughly $923 million. Although he’s no longer seeking permission from his local council to search the landfill, he’s far from done. 

Howells Debunks Rumors, Plans To Turn His Lost $1 Billion In Bitcoin Into Ceiniog Coin

In the post shared on X, Howells confirmed he has not given up and slammed years of rejection from Newport City Council. For over a decade, he says he tried public proposals, legal talks, mediation, and even offered over $30 million to recover the drive buried in the landfill. “$1 billion and they ignored it all,” he wrote. With no response from the council, he has decided to stop waiting.

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Instead of continuing legal fights or making more offers, Howells announced a new plan: to tokenize the entire wallet of 8,000 BTC into a new cryptocurrency called Ceiniog Coin (INI). Named after an ancient Welsh coin, Ceiniog will act as a Layer 2 token built on Bitcoin, matching 1:1 with satoshis, the smallest unit of Bitcoin. He plans to create 800 billion INI tokens, each directly linked to the 8,000 BTC sitting on the lost drive.

According to Howells, Ceiniog will launch in late 2025, powered by Bitcoin’s OP_RETURN functionality. It will integrate with Web3 projects like Stacks, Runes, and Ordinals. With the ICO planned later this year, Howells hopes the coin’s market value will eventually match that of the lost BTC, making him a theoretical billionaire, just 8.34% away from that goal based on current prices.

How He Lost The Bitcoin And What He’s Done To Get It Back

The saga began in 2013, when James Howells, a British IT professional, accidentally threw out a hard drive that contained the keys to 8,000 BTC, now worth nearly a billion dollars. Realizing the mistake too late, Howells spent the next 12 years trying to recover it.

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He submitted detailed recovery proposals, including environmental clean-up plans and AI-powered landfill scans. He even offered to raise $75 million by selling 21% of the Bitcoin’s value to fund the excavation. His most recent formal offer in July 2025, worth between $33 million and $40 million, included a full purchase of the landfill and a cleanup strategy. Citing environmental risks and lack of confidence in the outcome, the Newport City Council rejected the plan.

Now, instead of digging through landfill waste, Howells is building Ceiniog Coin as his way of reclaiming what he believes is rightfully his. He plans to debut the coin at a discount, letting early supporters buy in before the coin reaches its full value. Over time, he hopes the token’s value will naturally rise to reflect the worth of 8,000 Bitcoin.

Featured image from Unsplash, chart from TradingView.com

• James Howells claims to have lost a hard drive with 8,000 BTC at a landfill site in 2013.
• The man now wants to buy the landfill site as the search for the lost BTC worth over $784 million continues.

James Howells, the man who has been in search of his lost bitcoin worth over $784 million since 2013 is seeking to buy a landfill.

Howell claims to have mistakenly discarded a hard drive that contained 8,000 BTC and is seeking to buy the landfill site where he lost it in an attempt to recover his fortune.

The man filed a lawsuit in a bid to have the Newport Council dig up the landfill to try and find the lost bitcoin.  In over 10 years Newport Council has made no attempts to try to recover the discarded bitcoin.

The quest for lost BTC

James Howells reported that his fiance discarded the hard drive containing cryptocurrency estimated to have a market value of $784 million in the landfill site in 2013. In an attempt to get his crypto assets back, Howells wants to buy the landfill site.

BBC recently reported that Howells has approached various investors with a bid to potentially buy the whole landfill site.

Since 2013, Howells claims that Newport city council have disregarded his plea to be allowed to search for his fortune. The city council has announced plans to have the landfill site converted to a solar farm. They have since acquired planning permission to establish a solar power firm on the site.

Howells had filed a lawsuit against the council seeking legal grounds to hunt for the accidentally discarded bitcoin. In January, a high court judge made a ruling dismissing the case that required Newport council to forcefully allow Howells to search for his bitcoin.

James Howells threw away $750 million of bitcoin accidentally a decade ago and has been trying to recover the hard drive from a landfill ever since. Today, a judge has rejected his latest attempt to search through 110,000 tons of garbage for his digital gold. pic.twitter.com/douIDzDdQO

— Documenting ₿itcoin (@DocumentingBTC) January 11, 2025

During the hearing, Howells noted that Newport council claimed that granting him a search warrant would have detrimental effects on the people around Newport. Plans to close the landfill were also underway, and that would be soon.

After failed attempts to have the council retrieve the hard drive worth millions for him, Howells offered to buy the whole landfill.

“I have discussed this option recently with investment partners and it is very much on the table,” he said, according to the BBC.

A 25-year-old Alabama man has admitted to his role in the hacking of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) X account. The cyberattack led to a false announcement about Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs), causing a brief price surge.

Eric Council Jr Pleads Guilty in US SEC X Account Hack

According to a Bloomberg report, an Alabama man Eric Council Jr. has pleaded guilty to charges related to the January 2024 SEC Bitcoin ETF hack. The case was heard in a Washington federal court, where Council admitted to conspiracy to commit aggravated identity theft and access device fraud.

The hack involved posting a fake announcement on the SEC’s X account, formerly Twitter, falsely stating that the agency had approved Bitcoin ETFs. The post caused Bitcoin’s price to rise sharply before the SEC clarified that the information was false. The official approval of the ETFs came a day later.

Prosecutors revealed that Eric Council Jr used a fake ID to deceive a phone store employee into granting access to the victim’s phone. This method, known as a SIM swap attack, allowed the hackers to bypass security measures and take control of the SEC’s social media account.

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Kelvin Munene Murithi

Kelvin is a distinguished writer with expertise in crypto and finance, holding a Bachelor’s degree in Actuarial Science. Known for his incisive analysis and insightful content, he possesses a strong command of English and excels in conducting thorough research and delivering timely cryptocurrency market updates.

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