英國男子從垃圾掩埋場追回價值 7.09 億美元的比特幣錢包，敗訴

早期開採比特幣的英國人詹姆斯·豪厄爾斯 (James Howells) 在英國法官駁回他追回比特幣的案件後，他的希望破滅了

A British man's hopes of recovering a Bitcoin wallet valued at around $709 million from a landfill in Newport, Wales, have been dashed after a U.K. judge dismissed his case.

一名英國男子從威爾斯紐波特的垃圾掩埋場找回價值約 7.09 億美元的比特幣錢包的希望在英國法官駁回他的案件後落空。

James Howells, an early adopter of cryptocurrency, had been battling for years to gain access to the site where he believes his hard drive, containing thousands of Bitcoins, was inadvertently discarded in 2013.

詹姆斯·豪厄爾斯(James Howells) 是加密貨幣的早期採用者，多年來一直在努力爭取訪問該網站的權限，他認為他的硬碟（包含數千個比特幣）在2013 年被無意中丟棄。

Howells, who mined Bitcoin in its early days, had hoped to retrieve the hard drive from the landfill, claiming it contained 7,500 Bitcoins. He had been actively pursuing a legal route to recover the wallet, even offering Newport City Council a share of the cryptocurrency in 2021 if the drive was successfully retrieved.

早期開採比特幣的豪厄爾斯曾希望從垃圾掩埋場取回硬碟，聲稱裡面有 7,500 個比特幣。他一直在積極尋求合法途徑來找回錢包，甚至在 2021 年成功找回驅動器的情況下向紐波特市議會提供一份加密貨幣。

However, the council maintained that excavation of the site was not feasible due to legal, economic, and environmental concerns, which prompted him to institute a lawsuit aimed at recovering the stash last October.

然而，該委員會堅稱，出於法律、經濟和環境方面的考慮，對該地點進行挖掘是不可行的，這促使他於去年十月提起訴訟，旨在追回藏匿的物品。

But in a blow to Howells' hopes, a High Court judge on Friday ruled that there were no "reasonable grounds" for Howells’ claim and that there was no realistic prospect of success should the case go to trial.

但高等法院法官週五裁定，豪威爾斯的主張沒有“合理理由”，而且如果此案進入審判階段，也不存在成功的現實前景，這對豪威爾斯的希望造成了打擊。

Notably, Judge Keyser KC rejected Howells’ application, stating that the hard drive had become the property of the council once it entered the landfill and that any attempt to excavate the site would likely violate environmental permits.

值得注意的是，Keyser KC 法官駁回了 Howells 的申請，並表示硬碟一旦進入垃圾掩埋場就成為議會的財產，任何挖掘該地點的嘗試都可能違反環境許可。

The judgment marks the end of a years-long battle for Howells, who has expressed deep frustration over the decision.

這項判決標誌著豪厄爾斯長達數年的鬥爭的結束，豪厄爾斯對這一決定表示了深深的沮喪。

"The case being struck out at the earliest hearing doesn't even give me the opportunity to explain myself or an opportunity for justice in any shape or form," Howells noted following the ruling. "It's not about greed. I’m happy to share the proceeds, but nobody in a position of power will have a decent conversation with me."

豪厄爾斯在裁決後指出：“該案在最早的聽證會上被駁回，甚至沒有給我解釋自己的機會，也沒有給我以任何形式伸張正義的機會。” “這與貪婪無關。我很樂意分享收益，但沒有人有權與我進行體面的對話。”

This issue is not unique to Howells. In 2023, former Ripple CTO and Coil CEO Stefan Thomas revealed that he had only two attempts left to recover access to a wallet containing 7,002 BTC, worth roughly $662 million today.

這個問題並非豪威爾斯獨有。 2023 年，Ripple 前 CTO 兼 Coil 執行長 Stefan Thomas 透露，他只剩下兩次嘗試來恢復對包含 7,002 BTC 的錢包的訪問權限，該錢包目前價值約 6.62 億美元。

That said, while the ruling effectively puts an end to Howells’ pursuit of his lost fortune, it raises important questions about the fate of lost or forgotten cryptocurrency. A report from Chainalysis reveals that approximately 20% of the total Bitcoin supply, or around $140 billion, is currently locked in inaccessible wallets.

也就是說，雖然該裁決有效地結束了豪厄爾斯追回失去的財富的過程，但它提出了有關丟失或被遺忘的加密貨幣命運的重要問題。 Chainaanalysis 的一份報告顯示，比特幣總供應量的大約 20%（約 1400 億美元）目前被鎖定在無法訪問的錢包中。