比特幣硬碟🗑️：英國法院駁回一名男子在垃圾掩埋場尋找包含其財富的設備的請求

詹姆斯·豪厄爾斯 (James Howells) 對英國南威爾斯的紐波特市議會提起法律訴訟，要求他在垃圾場中搜尋包含大量加密貨幣的遺失硬碟。

A man's bid to search a dumpsite for a hard drive containing his lost cryptocurrency fortune has been denied by a UK court.

一名男子試圖在垃圾場中尋找包含他失去的加密貨幣財富的硬碟，但被英國法院駁回。

James Howells launched legal action against Newport city council in south Wales, seeking permission to scour a landfill for a lost hard drive containing a vast sum of bitcoin.

詹姆斯·豪厄爾斯 (James Howells) 對南威爾斯的紐波特市議會發起了法律訴訟，尋求許可在垃圾掩埋場搜尋丟失的包含大量比特幣的硬碟。

The computer expert had about $700 million in his bitcoin wallet, which was safely stored on a hard drive until 2013, when the device and his fortune ended up in the dump.

這位電腦專家的比特幣錢包裡有大約 7 億美元，這些錢一直安全地存放在硬碟上，直到 2013 年，該設備和他的財富最終被扔進了垃圾場。

The 39-year-old said he had placed the precious cargo in a black bag during an office spring clean and left it in the hallway of his home.

這名 39 歲的男子說，他在辦公室春季大掃除期間將這些珍貴的貨物放入一個黑色袋子中，然後將其留在家中的走廊上。

It is believed his then partner mistook the bag for trash and took it to the dump, where she disposed of it.

據信，他當時的伴侶誤以為這個袋子是垃圾，並將其帶到垃圾場，並在那裡處理掉。

Mr Howells discovered the catastrophic error and spent over 10 years pleading with his local authority to help him retrieve it, even offering to share 25 percent of its astronomical sum if the council permitted him to dig it out.

豪厄爾斯先生發現了這個災難性的錯誤，並花了 10 多年的時間懇求當地政府幫助他找回它，甚至提出如果議會允許他將其挖出來，他甚至願意分享 25% 的天文數字。

“I had two identical hard drives and I threw out the wrong one,” Mr Howells told The Guardian in 2021. "I have to laugh about it now.”

2021 年，豪厄爾斯先生對《衛報》表示：“我有兩個一模一樣的硬碟，但我扔掉了一個錯誤的硬碟。現在我不得不一笑置之。”

He maintained that the search would not be a 'needle in a haystack' scenario, as trash bins were assigned serial numbers and buried in the landfill with a grid reference.

他堅持認為，搜尋不會是「大海撈針」的情況，因為垃圾箱被分配了序號，並透過網格參考埋在垃圾掩埋場中。

Mr Howells and his lawyers said this enabled him to pinpoint roughly where the hard drive was buried, and expert excavators could then extract it.

豪厄爾斯先生和他的律師表示，這使他能夠大致查明硬碟埋藏的位置，然後專家挖掘機就可以將其挖掘出來。

“If I could access the landfill records, I could identify the week that I threw the hard drive away, identify the serial number of the bin it was in, and identify where the grid reference is located,” he said.

「如果我可以存取垃圾掩埋場記錄，我就可以確定我扔掉硬碟的那一周，確定它所在垃圾箱的序號，並確定網格參考的位置，」他說。

Mr Howells even secured financial backing from a hedge fund to cover the search costs, so the council would not have to use any public funds.

豪厄爾斯先生甚至從對沖基金獲得了財政支持來支付搜尋費用，因此該委員會不必使用任何公共資金。

However, Newport city council has consistently denied his requests, stating that an excavation of the site would violate licensing regulations and cause environmental damage.

然而，紐波特市議會一直拒絕他的請求，並表示挖掘該地點將違反許可規定並造成環境破壞。

Now, Mr Howells' decade-long quest to salvage the hard drive, which he said has a 'good chance' of still functioning, has been thwarted by a high court judge, who ruled in the council's favor to strike out the claim, according to The Guardian.

現在，豪厄爾斯先生長達十年的努力挽救硬碟，他說硬碟很有可能仍然可以發揮作用，但現在卻遭到高等法院法官的阻撓，法官做出了有利於委員會的裁決，駁回了這項主張。

At a hearing on Thursday, Judge Keyser KC stated that there were 'no reasonable grounds' for bringing the claim and that Mr Howells had 'no realistic prospect of succeeding' if the case proceeded to trial.

在周四的聽證會上，法官 Keyser KC 表示，提出索賠“沒有合理的理由”，如果案件進入審判階段，豪厄爾斯先生“沒有成功的現實前景”。

James Goudie KC, representing the council, argued that the hard drive became the council's property when it entered the dump and that environmental permits prohibited any excavations of the site.

代表該委員會的詹姆斯·古迪·KC (James Goudie KC) 辯稱，該硬碟在進入垃圾場時就成為了該委員會的財產，並且環境許可證禁止對該地點進行任何挖掘。

The judge said he agreed with this argument and that Mr Howells was not entitled to retrieve the hard drive.

法官表示他同意這一論點，豪威爾斯先生也無權取回硬碟。

Mr Howells has speculated that by 2026, the bitcoins on his missing hard drive could reach the billion mark, and he vowed to pursue his case in the supreme court.

豪厄爾斯先生推測，到 2026 年，他丟失的硬碟上的比特幣可能會達到十億大關，他發誓要向最高法院提起訴訟。

Reacting to the decision, Mr Howells said he was 'very upset,' according to BBC News.

根據英國廣播公司新聞報道，豪厄爾斯先生對這項決定表示「非常沮喪」。

"This ruling has taken everything from me and left me with nothing. It's the great British injustice system striking again," he added.

「這項裁決奪走了我的一切，讓我一無所有。這是英國偉大的不公正制度再次襲來，」他補充道。