威爾斯法官駁回 IT 工程師從垃圾掩埋場回收價值 7.7 億美元比特幣硬碟的法律嘗試

威爾斯巡迴商事法官 Keyser KC 法官駁回了 IT 工程師 James Howells 追回 7.7 億美元比特幣的法律嘗試

An IT engineer in the United Kingdom has failed in his legal bid to retrieve a hard drive containing $770 million in Bitcoin (BTC) from a landfill in Newport.

英國一名 IT 工程師未能透過法律訴訟從紐波特的垃圾掩埋場取回裝有價值 7.7 億美元比特幣 (BTC) 的硬碟。

James Howells, the engineer, had filed a claim against the city council, seeking permission to excavate the landfill in search of the drive, which reportedly holds 8,000 BTC that he mined in 2009. At the time, each Bitcoin was valued at $13.

工程師詹姆斯·豪厄爾斯(James Howells) 向市議會提出索賠，請求允許挖掘垃圾掩埋場以尋找驅動器，據報道驅動器內藏有他在2009 年開采的8,000 枚比特幣。幣的價值為13 美元。

According to a BBC report on January 9, Judge Keyser KC, the Circuit Commercial Judge for Wales, dismissed Howells’ case, stating that it had “no realistic prospect” of succeeding if it were to proceed to a full trial.

據英國廣播公司 1 月 9 日報道，威爾斯巡迴商事法官 Keyser KC 駁回了豪厄爾斯的案件，稱如果進行全面審判，該案「沒有成功的現實前景」。

“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 said in reaction to the decision. “There was so much more that could have been explained in a full trial and that's what I was expecting.”

豪厄爾斯在回應這一決定時表示：“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。” “在完整的試驗中可以解釋更多的事情，這正是我所期望的。”

Howells asserts that his partner accidentally threw away the hard drive in 2013, and he has been attempting to retrieve it ever since. He has made numerous requests to the Newport City Council for permission to search the site, which have been consistently denied.

豪厄爾斯聲稱，他的伴侶在 2013 年不小心扔掉了硬碟，從那時起他一直試圖找回它。他多次向紐波特市議會提出搜索該地點的請求，但都遭到拒絕。

The council maintains that once the hard drive entered the landfill, existing laws transferred its ownership to the council. Additionally, the council's environmental permits prohibit any excavation of the site to search for the drive.

該委員會堅稱，一旦硬碟進入垃圾掩埋場，現行法律就將其所有權轉移給了該委員會。此外，該委員會的環境許可證禁止對該地點進行任何挖掘以尋找驅動器。

James Goudie KC, who represents the council, argued that Howells' offer to donate 10% of the Bitcoin to the local community was essentially encouraging the council to “play fast and loose” by “signing up for a share of the action.”

該委員會的代表詹姆斯·古迪·KC (James Goudie KC) 認為，豪厄爾斯向當地社區捐贈 10% 比特幣的提議本質上是鼓勵委員會透過「參與行動」來「快速而寬鬆」。

The landfill contains over 1.4 million tonnes of waste, but Howells claims to have pinpointed the location of the hard drive to a section containing 100,000 tonnes. Despite this, the council stated that on October 11, 2024, it had informed Howells multiple times that excavation was not permitted under its environmental permit due to the significant negative impact it would have on the surrounding area.

該垃圾掩埋場含有超過 140 萬噸廢棄物，但 Howells 聲稱已將硬碟位置精確到含有 10 萬噸廢棄物的區域。儘管如此，該委員會表示，2024年10月11日，它已多次通知豪厄爾斯，根據其環境許可證，不允許進行挖掘，因為這會對週邊地區產生重大負面影響。

However, Howells has accused the council of breaching environmental regulations, asserting that he possesses “100 independently verified pieces of evidence” to back his claims. He alleges that the council has been violating its landfill permit by allowing arsenic, asbestos, ammonium nitrate, and methane gases to leak into the surrounding environment.

然而，豪厄爾斯指責該委員會違反了環境法規，並聲稱他擁有「100 份獨立核實的證據」來支持他的說法。他聲稱，該委員會允許砷、石棉、硝酸銨和甲烷氣體洩漏到周圍環境中，違反了垃圾掩埋許可證。

The James Howells case gained more attention in 2024 after Bitcoin's historic rise to $100,000, which saw the cryptocurrency generate over 130% in yearly returns. The IT engineer speculated that the Bitcoin on his hard drive could be worth £1 billion, or around $1.21 billion, by next year.

2024 年，比特幣歷史性上漲至 10 萬美元後，詹姆斯·豪厄爾斯 (James Howells) 案獲得了更多關注，該加密貨幣的年回報率超過 130%。這位 IT 工程師推測，到明年，他硬碟上的比特幣可能價值 10 億英鎊，約 12.1 億美元。