Risk and Reward
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The strange case of James Howells's hard drive reached a judge this week, which should be cause for all of us to pause and reflect. In case you're not familiar with the heart-rending tale, Mr. Howells had quite a sum of cryptocurrency back in 2013, with his private keys stored on a hard drive that he removed from his computer and placed in a black bag.
Dear Reader,
The strange case of James Howells's hard drive reached a judge this week, which should be cause for all of us to pause and reflect. In case you're not familiar with the heart-rending tale, Mr. Howells had quite a sum of cryptocurrency back in 2013, with his private keys stored on a hard drive that he removed from his computer and placed in a black bag [1]. His partner at the time came across the bag in the hallway and thought it was trash, so she threw it out, or so his story goes. His former partner has acknowledged her role in the incident but says Howells "begged" her to toss out the trash in the inconspicuous black bag [2].
But the he said/she said details are not pertinent to the matter at hand. What matters is that the Bitcoin in that bag is currently worth an estimated $800 million, and now, 11 years later, Mr. Howells wants it back from the landfill. So far the Newport, Wales city council has been dismissive of his efforts, claiming that as soon as the hard drive was thrown away, Howells lost any claim to it, and further asserting that it would be environmentally disruptive to dig up the whole landfill to look for one bag. Howells's team, on the other hand, says it knows exactly where to search, having retained the consulting services of the former landfill superintendent.
[...]
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