Howells might have started to regret his mistake even more as the value of the cryptocurrency has soared past $14,000. He believes that his hard drive worth millions is buried in a landfill and his recovery plan seems to be like finding a needle in a haystack.
Howells now considers digging up the landfill to find his precious hard drive. But there are problems involved as the project would be costly and it would also pose environmental consequences, including the release of toxic gases and landfill fires. However, this is not the first time. He started searching for the hard drive in 2013 when Bitcoin crossed $1,000.
If today’s value of Bitcoin (at the time of writing) is to be considered, he was sitting on top of around $10,77,74,962.50. This seems to be nothing when compared to 3.79 million bitcoins going out of circulation.
Howells started mining Bitcoins in 2009 using his computer to solve maths problems and earn rewards. His girlfriend would often complain about the noise coming out of the laptop when it was busy churning out cryptocurrency.
The Bitcoin mining came to a halt after he spilled lemonade on his laptop. He disassembled his laptop and sold individual pieces on eBay, but the hard drive remained in his drawer for a while before being thrown in the garbage.
In the past, Howells said the hard drive slipped off his mind due to distractions of relocating his house and family life. Hopefully, he manages to find his hard drive. But another concern is whether the hard drive would work or not after all these years.
Also Read: Here’s How $30 Billion In Bitcoins Got Lost Forever
