$11 million he plans to find 8,000 bitcoins in the trash

Howells, a 36-year-old IT engineer from Wales, England. His life changed in 2013 when he threw away a hard drive containing thousands of bitcoins.

“I have two identical hard drives in a drawer, one with no data, the other with 8,000 bitcoins. I wanted to throw away the blank disk but I made a mistake. They brought the hard drive with a private key…to a dump in Newport,” he said.

Said bitcoin was derived from cryptocurrency mining in 2013. And now it’s about $181 million.

Over the years, Howells has worked tirelessly to get permission from Newport City Council to excavate the landfill in search of the technological treasure of his life. However, local authorities fear they are expensive and harmful to the environment. Howells has yet to get approval from officials, but he has presented a detailed $11 million plan to convince the city council.

Former engineer admits digging up 110,000 tons of waste is an impossible task. However, he raised $11 million from a venture capital fund to start the project. The lengthy process to clean up the massive landfill could take three years and cost $11 million. Dollars, and very quickly – 18 months at 6 million. USD as city permit level.

Howells is made up of eight experts in artificial intelligence, garbage mining, waste management and data mining, including consultants who served the company that obtained the data from the black box. Space Shuttle Columbia. Experts are assigned to carry out the mining process and receive a bonus when bitcoins are successfully mined.

The plan called for the machines to dig up the waste and process it at a nearby facility. People participate in the voting process with machines. Dubbed Max-AI, the machine includes algorithms to scan images on a conveyor belt and have a robotic arm handle anything that looks like a hard drive.

After excavation, the rubble is cleaned and reused as much as possible. The rest is buried underground. Howells said he did not want the area to be destroyed by impact. After completion of the project, the group plans to build a solar or wind power plant on the landfill. However, this plan is still being questioned by the authorities because of its potential to cause ecological disruption.

Howells is investing a personal amount in installing 24/7 surveillance cameras to prevent more people from freely browsing hard drives. Two robotic dogs from Boston Dynamics are used on ‘watch’ day and night.

Another challenge is that if the hard drive is found, it’s unlikely that it’s still intact and working.

Phil Bridges, a data recovery expert who advised Howells, said that a hard drive’s performance is determined by a plate of glass or metal known as a “platter” that contains data. Unless the drive is cracked, Howells has an 80-90% chance of recovering the data. But if the drive fails, the chances of recovering the data are very slim. Bridge found it fascinating and decided to join the project. “Howell’s story piques everyone’s curiosity. If we succeed, it will be the greatest mission of our lives,” Bridge said.

If the hard drive is found, Howells plans to keep 30% of the purchase price — more than $54 million. Dollars at current exchange rates. 30% goes to investors and the rest to all 150,000 residents of Newport.

Two venture capital investors in Switzerland and Germany, Hanspeter Jaberg and Karl Wendeborn, have invested 11 million. Dollars for Howells Mission. “It’s really a needle in a haystack and a very risky investment. But as soon as Howells gets a nod from the authorities, we will invest money,” Jaberg said.

Without city council support, Howells said he would take the local government to court. But the 36-year-old engineer didn’t want that.

While awaiting Newport City Council results, Howells still listed the mission and continued to earn from Bitcoin transactions.

Kung Nha (Consequences Business Insider)