英国男子从垃圾填埋场追回价值 7.09 亿美元的比特币钱包，败诉

早期开采比特币的英国人詹姆斯·豪厄尔斯 (James Howells) 在英国法官驳回他追回比特币的案件后，他的希望破灭了

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.

一名英国男子从威尔士纽波特的一个垃圾填埋场找回价值约 7.09 亿美元的比特币钱包的希望在英国法官驳回他的案件后落空。

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·豪厄尔斯 (James Howells) 是加密货币的早期采用者，多年来一直在努力争取访问该网站的权限，他认为他的硬盘驱动器（包含数千个比特币）在 2013 年被无意中丢弃。

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.

早期开采比特币的豪厄尔斯曾希望从垃圾填埋场取回硬盘，声称里面有 7,500 个比特币。他一直在积极寻求合法途径来找回钱包，甚至在 2021 年成功找回驱动器的情况下向纽波特市议会提供一份加密货币。

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，该委员会坚称，出于法律、经济和环境方面的考虑，对该地点进行挖掘是不可行的，这促使他于去年十月提起诉讼，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.

但高等法院法官周五裁定，豪威尔斯的主张没有“合理理由”，而且如果此案进入审判阶段，也不存在成功的现实前景，这对豪威尔斯的希望造成了打击。

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 法官驳回了 Howells 的申请，称硬盘一旦进入垃圾填埋场就成为议会的财产，任何挖掘该地点的尝试都可能违反环境许可。

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

这一判决标志着豪厄尔斯长达数年的斗争的结束，豪厄尔斯对这一决定表示了深深的沮丧。

"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."

豪厄尔斯在裁决后指出：“该案在最早的听证会上被驳回，甚至没有给我解释自己的机会，也没有给我以任何形式伸张正义的机会。” “这与贪婪无关。我很乐意分享收益，但没有人有权与我进行体面的对话。”

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.

这个问题并非豪威尔斯独有。 2023 年，Ripple 前 CTO 兼 Coil 首席执行官 Stefan Thomas 透露，他只剩下两次尝试来恢复对包含 7,002 BTC 的钱包的访问权限，该钱包目前价值约 6.62 亿美元。

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.

也就是说，虽然该裁决有效地结束了豪厄尔斯追回失去的财富的过程，但它提出了有关丢失或被遗忘的加密货币命运的重要问题。 Chainaanalysis 的一份报告显示，比特币总供应量的大约 20%（约合 1400 亿美元）目前被锁定在无法访问的钱包中。