在垃圾掩埋場失去財富的比特幣礦工詹姆斯·豪厄爾斯 (James Howells) 公佈了一項新計劃來找回丟失的加密貨幣

儘管遭遇挫折，39 歲的詹姆斯·豪厄爾斯 (James Howells) 表示，他還遠遠沒有準備好放棄長達十年的追回加密貨幣財富的追求。

James Howells, a 39-year-old IT worker turned entrepreneur, began mining Bitcoin in 2009. He claims to have mined 8,000 coins when they were practically worthless. He kept them on a 2.5-inch laptop hard drive, which he stashed in a desk drawer.

James Howells 是一名 39 歲的 IT 工人，後來成為企業家，他於 2009 年開始開採比特幣。他將它們保存在 2.5 吋筆記型電腦硬碟上，並藏在辦公桌抽屜裡。

However, in 2013, Howells's partner at the time mistakenly disposed of the hard drive along with other unwanted items. According to Howells, the drive ended up in the Docksway landfill in Newport, South Wales.

然而，2013 年，豪厄爾斯當時的合作夥伴錯誤地將硬碟與其他不需要的物品一起處理掉。據豪厄爾斯稱，這輛車最終被運往南威爾斯紐波特的 Docksway 垃圾掩埋場。

Over the years, the price of Bitcoin has skyrocketed, pushing the potential value of Howells's inaccessible holdings to more than £600 million (around $780 million).

多年來，比特幣的價格一路飆升，將豪威爾斯所持有的比特幣的潛在價值推高至超過 6 億英鎊（約 7.8 億美元）。

In a last-ditch effort, Howells took his case to the High Court in Cardiff last month, demanding that the council either allow him to organize a landfill dig or pay up to £495 million in damages. He argued that a specialized team of recovery engineers could locate the disk at no cost to local taxpayers.

上個月，豪厄爾斯做了最後的努力，將案件提交給卡迪夫高等法院，要求市議會要么允許他組織垃圾掩埋場挖掘，要么支付高達 4.95 億英鎊的賠償金。他認為，由恢復工程師組成的專業團隊可以免費找到磁碟，當地納稅人無需支付任何費用。

However, Newport City Council sought to have the claim thrown out, citing legal and environmental concerns. A key point of contention was the council's position that once items enter a municipal landfill, ownership transfers to the local authority. Furthermore, the council's legal team argued that opening up the site could lead to significant ecological disruption and regulatory complications.

然而，紐波特市議會以法律和環境問題為由，試圖駁回這項主張。爭論的一個關鍵點是該委員會的立場，即一旦物品進入市政垃圾掩埋場，所有權就轉移給地方當局。此外，該委員會的法律團隊認為，開放該地點可能會導致嚴重的生態破壞和監管複雜化。

On January 9, Judge Keyser KC dismissed Howells's claim, declaring that there was “no realistic prospect” of success at trial.

1 月 9 日，Keyser KC 法官駁回了 Howells 的主張，宣稱審判「不存在成功的現實前景」。

While expressing disappointment with the verdict, Howells stressed that the ruling would not end his pursuit of a solution, describing the council's approach as “living in the dark ages” for refusing to engage with his proposals.

豪厄爾斯在對判決表示失望的同時，強調該裁決不會結束他對解決方案的追求，並將該委員會的做法描述為“生活在黑暗時代”，因為拒絕參與他的提議。

Undeterred by the judgment, Howells has unveiled what he calls a “tokenization” scheme—an initiative he hopes will help him monetize the lost Bitcoin without physically retrieving the hard drive.

豪厄爾斯並沒有被判決嚇倒，他推出了他所謂的「代幣化」計劃——他希望這一舉措能夠幫助他在不實際找回硬碟的情況下將丟失的比特幣貨幣化。

Drawing a parallel to historical gold-backed banknotes, Howells says he wants to create a new cryptocurrency, temporarily dubbed “James Coin,” whose value would mirror that of the inaccessible Bitcoin locked in the landfill.

與歷史上的黃金支持的紙幣相比，豪厄爾斯表示，他希望創造一種新的加密貨幣，暫時被稱為“詹姆斯幣”，其價值將反映垃圾掩埋場中無法訪問的比特幣的價值。

“Everyone can see the Bitcoin is never going to move,” he said. “I can’t get the private key, so it’s going to be there for eternity. But if I can legally establish ownership of the coins, I can back a new token with them and trade that token on the cryptocurrency market.”

「每個人都可以看到比特幣永遠不會移動，」他說。 「我無法獲得私鑰，所以它會永遠存在。但如果我可以合法地建立這些代幣的所有權，我就可以用它們支援新的代幣，並在加密貨幣市場上交易該代幣。

Although he concedes that this approach would not fully recover the £600 million, he believes it could still provide him with a modest return while creating a crypto venture that might appeal to investors.

儘管他承認這種方法無法完全收回 6 億英鎊，但他相信這仍然可以為他提供適度的回報，同時創造一個可能吸引投資者的加密企業。

He also floated “Ceiniog Coin” (ceiniog being the Welsh term for a penny) as a potential alternative name, hoping to capture a distinctly Welsh identity.

他還提出了“Ceiniog Coin”（ceiniog 是威爾士語中一便士的意思）作為一個潛在的替代名稱，希望能夠體現出明顯的威爾士身份。

Since embarking on his crusade to unearth the hard drive, Howells has assembled an international team of investors, engineers, and legal advisers. They proposed a meticulously planned excavation designed to take between 18 and 36 months, followed by a year of landfill remediation.

自從開始挖掘硬碟的遠徵以來，豪厄爾斯組建了一支由投資者、工程師和法律顧問組成的國際團隊。他們提議精心策劃挖掘工作，預計需要 18 至 36 個月的時間，然後進行一年的垃圾掩埋修復。

Under Howells's plan, the entire project would be financed by private investors, negating any direct costs to the council.

根據豪厄爾斯的計劃，整個項目將由私人投資者資助，從而消除了議會的任何直接成本。

In an attempt to sweeten the proposal, he offered the local authority 10% of any recovered Bitcoin value. However, the council's legal representatives labeled this an unacceptable “bribe” and said it would force the municipality to “play fast and loose” with environmental regulations.

為了使該提案更加順利，他向當地政府提供了恢復的比特幣價值的 10%。然而，該委員會的法律代表稱這是不可接受的“賄賂”，並表示這將迫使市政府“反复無常”地執行環境法規。

They also cited strict permitting rules that prohibit disturbances within the landfill site.

他們也引用了嚴格的許可規則，禁止垃圾掩埋場內的暴動。

Newport City Council emphasized that it has consistently refused access to the landfill on the grounds of environmental risk and insufficient legal basis for Howells's claim.

紐波特市議會強調，它一直以環境風險和豪厄爾斯的主張缺乏法律依據為由拒絕進入垃圾掩埋場。

In a statement released after the High Court judgment, the council welcomed the decision, noting that it had “already cost countless hours of officer time” and that it “cannot authorize digging on such a scale without breaching environmental permits.”

在高等法院判決後發布的一份聲明中，該委員會對這一決定表示歡迎，指出它“已經花費了官員無數個小時的時間”，並且“不能在不違反環境許可的情況下授權進行如此規模的挖掘」。

The lost hard drive has overshadowed Howells's life for more than ten years. Once employed in IT, he says he left his job to dedicate himself full-time to the recovery effort.

丟失的硬碟為豪厄爾斯的生活帶來了十多年的陰影。他說，一旦在 IT 部門工作，他就辭去了工作，全心投入恢復工作。

Securing support from American hedge funds and other backers, he went to court armed with legal arguments affirming his right to search for what he considers his “intellectual digital property.”

在獲得美國對沖基金和其他支持者的支持後，他帶著法律論點向法庭提起訴訟，確認他有權尋找他認為的「智慧財產權數位財產」。

Although Judge Keyser upheld the council's position, Howells believes his ownership of the Bitcoin was tacitly acknowledged by the court.

儘管凱澤法官維持了委員會的立場，但豪厄爾斯認為法院默認了他對比特幣的所有權。

“I’m disappointed they wouldn’t let me proceed to trial, but I was encouraged when the judge said that the council might own the physical hard drive, but I am still the owner of the Bitcoin,” Howells explained.

「我很失望他們不讓我繼續受審，但當法官說委員會可能擁有實體硬碟，但我仍然是比特幣的所有者時，我感到很鼓舞，」豪厄爾斯解釋道。

He now awaits the final order in hopes that it will confirm his ownership in a way that legally supports his tokenization project.

他現在正在等待最終命令，希望能夠以合法支持他的代幣化項目的方式確認他的所有權。

Despite the High Court loss, Howells remains resolute. He has vowed to escalate the

儘管在高等法院敗訴，豪威爾斯仍態度堅決。他發誓要升級