7,500 bitcoins thrown in the trash, the British hire NASA experts to find them

James Howell

"The duck has flown"! Losing a lot of money can make everyone want to die of grief and blame themselves ...

In 2013, a British computer scientist lost 340 million pounds sterling (about 2.9 billion yuan) of his fortune after disposing of a hard drive containing 7,500 bitcoins, but he did not give up trying his best. to find it.

Wilson, British computer engineer James Howells learned that in 2017 he accidentally lost a hard drive containing 7,500 bitcoins, and he knew the hard drive was scrapped, but the government could not find a raison. It is illegal to do this with this hard drive.

According to a Dec. 15 report from the British Sun, James recently hired data scientists from NASA to help locate the landfill in Newport, Wales, where his hard drive was buried. , and help find that good fortune.

However, although James has promised to donate a month's worth of bitcoin on the hard drive to city council, the city government has yet to authorize the return of the hard drive.

Newport Waste

He said bitcoin from the Newport landfill in Wales is currently worth around £ 340million, but fears it will be worth around £ 1billion before the municipal government acts.

James is bringing in engineers, environmentalists and data recovery experts from around the world to do the research.

Its team of experts includes Ontrack, the company that recovered from the space shuttle Columbia's propulsion system after the 2003 crash.

If James' hard drive fails, Ontrack believes he has an 80-90% chance of recovering his massive Bitcoin fundraiser.

“To refute all the demands of the government committee, we have assembled a whole team of experts in the field. I spoke to the data recovery experts who worked with NASA during the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster. They learned from the data. back from an exploded space shuttle, and I don't think there was anything wrong with the landfill, ”he said.

In 2013, James accidentally threw away a hard drive containing 7,500 bitcoins while cleaning his office. Before James realized he had made a mistake, his ex-partner, Hafina, dumped the trash.

"It was worth £ 342million today, but it was around £ 420million a week ago," he said. "A lot of Bitcoin is on the ground, and I have no doubt that it will be worth £ 550million, £ 600million, even £ 700million or even $ 1 billion next year."

He said: “If the city council cannot find the hard drive, I'm worried about who will pay for the construction of the landfill, but this will all be part of the contract. ", did he declare. We can sit down and rewrite our plans and they can cause concern and we can respond to them, but they won't give me time. "

James previously explained that the research is expected to take 9 to 12 months and will be assisted by a tech expert.

He said his campaign was supported by defense funds. Financial blanket said she was prepared to pay all the costs of research and supplies related to most of her finances.

The board denied his request.

But James said the Newport City Council chairman would not stick to the plan and allow him to meet with other leaders to explain his plans.

He studied the aerial images of the site and estimated that the hard drive has an area of ​​200 square meters and can reach a depth of 15 meters.

Newport City Council previously said James asked for help on several occasions but was unable to do so.

In May of this year, James met with two city officials, but an employee told him in an interview with The New Yorker.

A Newport government expert said: “Since 2014, Newport City Council has called several times to ask if the hard drive can be recovered. For the first time, Mr. Horses knew about the hard drive. A few months later, ”said. "The cost of digging up landfills, storing and disposing of waste can run into the millions of pounds. There is no guarantee that Mr. Hall will see it or ever return to normal."

“City council has also told Mr. Hall on several occasions that he cannot dig with our permit. Digging itself would have a huge impact on the surroundings. may agree with his request, the hard drive will be banned. Found or damaged, the question is who will bear the costs to the point where the data cannot be recovered. "

"So we have made it clear that we cannot help him in this matter."

He was not the only one to have lost the fortune.

He wasn't the only one to give up bitcoin and lose a lot of money, there was also the Australian Campbell Simpson (Campbell Simpson). The publishers of the tech website Gizmodo claimed to have lost a hard drive containing 1,400 bitcoins in 2012.

In 2010, Simpson used AUD 25 to buy Bitcoin, which was in the minority at the time. There will be very little Bitcoin and fiat exchanges, usually owned by community miners. After receiving these bitcoins, he stored them on his computer's hard drive.

A year later, Simpson decided to move in and get his electronics ready. The hard drive containing 1,400 bitcoins was thrown by it and the bitcoins on the hard drive fell into the sea. At the time, its age was equal to A $ 125, or AUD 125, and now the value of bitcoin is of about $ 56.95 million (about 369 million yuan).

In May 2010, programmer Laszlo Hanyecz bought two large pizzas with 10,000 Bitcoins. Back then, pizza cost only $ 62, but is now worth over $ 400 million.

While it might seem incredible now, parties may complain and regret their way of getting rich, but at the time nobody expected Bitcoin to rise this year. Marketing is unpredictable.

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