“我還能做什麼？”：因比特幣丟失而起訴市議會超過 6 億英鎊的父親告訴 LBC 法庭之爭是“槓桿”

一名在比特幣損失 6.35 億英鎊後將當地議會告上法庭的男子告訴 LBC，他的案件只是吸引議會進行「談判」的「槓桿」。

A man who sued his local council over £635 million in lost bitcoin has told LBC that his case was just "leverage" to get the council to negotiate with him.

一名因失去比特幣而起訴當地議會的男子告訴 LBC，他的案件只是讓議會與他進行談判的「籌碼」。

A judge dismissed James Howells' last-ditch bid on Thursday after he attempted to sue a council in order to retrieve a Bitcoin hard drive from the local rubbish tip - which he claims is now worth over £600 million.

週四，法官駁回了詹姆斯·豪厄爾斯（James Howells）的最後一搏，此前他試圖起訴一家議會，以從當地的垃圾場取回比特幣硬碟——他聲稱該硬碟目前價值超過6 億英鎊。

Howells argued that his ex-partner accidentally threw away the hard drive containing a Bitcoin wallet in 2013, and he sought permission to access the landfill to recover the extremely valuable cryptocurrency.

豪厄爾斯辯稱，他的前合夥人在 2013 年不小心扔掉了裝有比特幣錢包的硬碟，他尋求進入垃圾掩埋場的許可，以回收極其有價值的加密貨幣。

At one point, the father-of-three even offered a share of the recovered Bitcoin with Newport City Council if the hard drive was successfully found.

有一次，如果成功找到硬碟，這位三個孩子的父親甚至向紐波特市議會提供了一部分恢復的比特幣。

But speaking with LBC, Mr Howells said he wanted to "use the case as leverage" to bring Newport council "to the negotiating table".

但豪厄爾斯先生在接受 LBC 採訪時表示，他希望“利用此案作為籌碼”，讓紐波特市議會“坐到談判桌前”。

"That's all it was ever really wanted with them - a genuine sit down, good faith conversation with the leaders of Newport Council to discuss the possibility of this project going ahead.

「這就是他們真正想要的——與紐波特市議會的領導人進行真誠的坐下來、真誠的對話，討論該項目繼續進行的可能性。

"And I never even got that, to be honest."

“說實話，我從來沒有得到過這一點。”

Describing the outcome of the case, he told Tom Swarbrick: "I've been left with pretty much absolutely nothing".

在描述案件的結果時，他告訴湯姆·斯瓦布里克：「我幾乎一無所有」。

"What else can I do? I mean, apart from knocking on the front gates of Buckingham palace and asking the King to make the special decree. What else, what else can I do?"

「我還能做什麼？我是說，除了敲白金漢宮的大門，請求國王頒布特別法令之外，還能做什麼，還能做什麼？」

He did admit that he was happy that despite the council winning on all counts, the judge acknowledged the cryptocurrency belonged to him.

他確實承認，他很高興儘管理事會在所有方面都獲勝，但法官承認加密貨幣屬於他。

His aim was to "insert a clause into the final ruling which stated although Newport council are the owner of the hard drive and James doesn't have rights to retrieve it, he is still the owner of the 8,000 bitcoins.

他的目的是「在最終裁決中插入一個條款，規定雖然紐波特市議會是硬碟的所有者，而詹姆斯無權取回它，但他仍然是 8,000 個比特幣的所有者。

"That would have given me same legal backing in order to launch a new crypto currency or using the 8,000 coins" to "create new assets".

「這會給我同樣的法律支持，以便推出新的加密貨幣或使用 8,000 個硬幣」來「創建新資產」。

However, the council requested a High Court judge strike out Mr. Howells' legal action, which aimed either to access the site or instead to receive £495 million in compensation.

然而，該委員會要求高等法院法官駁回豪厄爾斯先生的法律訴訟，該訴訟旨在要么訪問該網站，要么獲得 4.95 億英鎊的賠償。

Judge Keyser KC ruled there were no "reasonable grounds" for the claim and that there was "no realistic prospect" of success if the case went to trial.

凱澤·KC 法官裁定，這一主張沒有“合理的理由”，而且如果案件進入審判階段，“沒有成功的現實前景”。

During the December hearing, the court was informed Mr. Howells had been an early adopter of Bitcoin and had successfully mined the cryptocurrency.

在 12 月的聽證會上，法院獲悉豪厄爾斯先生是比特幣的早期採用者，並成功開採了這種加密貨幣。

As the value of his missing digital wallet increased, Mr. Howells assembled a team of experts to try to locate, recover, and access the hard drive.

隨著丟失的數位錢包的價值不斷增加，豪厄爾斯先生組建了一個專家團隊，試圖找到、恢復和存取硬碟。

He had repeatedly requested permission from the council to access the landfill and had even offered a share of the recovered Bitcoin if the hard drive was successfully found.

他曾多次請求委員會允許他進入垃圾掩埋場，如果成功找到硬碟，他甚至願意分享回收的比特幣。

Mr. Howells mined the Bitcoin back in 2009 for a negligible cost and says he completely forgot about it when he discarded the hard drive.

豪厄爾斯先生在 2009 年以微不足道的成本開採了比特幣，並表示當他丟棄硬碟時，他完全忘記了這件事。

With Bitcoin's value rising more than 80% in 2024, Mr. Howells now estimates his 8,000 bitcoins are worth over £600 million.

隨著 2024 年比特幣的價值上漲超過 80%，豪厄爾斯先生現在估計他的 8,000 個比特幣價值超過 6 億英鎊。

However, James Goudie KC, representing the council, argued that the hard drive became the council's property as soon as it entered the landfill site under existing laws.

然而，代表該委員會的詹姆斯·古迪·KC (James Goudie KC) 辯稱，根據現行法律，該硬碟一旦進入垃圾掩埋場，就成為該委員會的財產。

He also pointed out that the council’s environmental permits would prohibit any excavation to search for the hard drive.

他還指出，該委員會的環境許可證將禁止任何挖掘硬碟的行為。

Mr. Goudie argued that the offer to donate 10% of the Bitcoin to the local community was encouraging the council to "play fast and loose," essentially "signing up for a share of the action."

古迪先生認為，向當地社區捐贈 10% 的比特幣的提議是在鼓勵該委員會“快速而寬鬆地行事”，本質上是“簽署參與行動的一部分”。

In his written judgment, the judge stated: "I also find that the claim has no realistic prospect of success if it went to trial and that there is no other compelling reason to proceed with the case."

法官在書面判決中表示：“我還認為，如果進入審判階段，該索賠沒有成功的現實前景，並且沒有其他令人信服的理由繼續審理此案。”

The landfill contains over 1.4 million tonnes of waste, but Mr. Howells claimed he had pinpointed the location of the hard drive to an area with around 100,000 tonnes of waste.

該垃圾掩埋場含有超過 140 萬噸廢物，但豪厄爾斯先生聲稱他已將硬碟的位置精確到了一個大約有 10 萬噸廢物的區域。

Mr. Howells has speculated that the Bitcoin on his hard drive could be worth £1 billion by next year.

豪厄爾斯先生推測，到明年，他硬碟上的比特幣可能價值 10 億英鎊。

Speaking to BBC Wales outside the court in Cardiff last December, Mr. Howells expressed confidence in his case and said he was prepared to take it all the way to the Supreme Court.

去年 12 月，豪厄爾斯在卡迪夫法院外接受 BBC Wales 採訪時表示，他對自己的案件充滿信心，並表示他準備將案件一路上訴至最高法院。