黄金硬盘：长达十年的寻宝活动在英国上诉法院结束

3月13日，一个持续十年的寻宝传奇在英国上诉法院结束。

A British software engineer's hopes of recovering a hard drive containing 8,000 bitcoins, valued at a small fortune, from a landfill in Newport have been dashed by the Court of Appeal, concluding a saga that began over a decade ago, according to a report by Foresight News.

根据《预先新闻报道》的报道，一位英国软件工程师希望从纽波特的一个垃圾填埋场中恢复一个装有8,000只比特币的硬盘驱动器，上诉法院已经打破了十年前开始的传奇。

At the peak price of bitcoin (BTC) at $109,000, the bitcoins stored on that hard drive were once valued at over $872 million, making it the most expensive hard drive in history.

以比特币（BTC）的高峰价格为109,000美元，存储在硬盘上的比特币曾经价值超过8.72亿美元，使其成为历史上最昂贵的硬盘驱动器。

This peculiar legal tug-of-war is as dramatic as the plot of Mark Twain's novel "The Million Pound Bank Note," but Howells was not the protagonist of a novel and ultimately did not become a billionaire.

这款奇特的法律拖船战线与马克·吐温（Mark Twain）的小说《百万英镑钞票》的情节一样引人注目，但是豪威尔斯（Howells）并不是小说的主角，最终并未成为亿万富翁。

The Birth and Loss of the Golden Hard Drive

黄金硬盘的出生和损失

The story begins in 2009. At that time, bitcoin had just been born and was still a little-known novelty. Young IT engineer Howells keenly sensed its potential, having been passionate about technology since childhood. It is known that his mother worked in the microchip production field, and from his teenage years, he frequently used the internet and began assembling computers at the age of 13, showcasing remarkable technical talent. He later attended university to study computer-related subjects and worked in various IT-related jobs, including exposure to cryptography in the Bowman communication systems project.

这个故事始于2009年。当时，比特币刚刚出生，仍然是一个鲜为人知的新颖性。年轻的IT工程师豪威尔斯（Howells）敏锐地感受到了其潜力，从小就一直对技术充满热情。众所周知，他的母亲在Microchip生产领域工作，从他的十几岁开始，他经常使用互联网，并在13岁时开始组装计算机，展示了出色的技术人才。后来，他上了大学学习与计算机相关的学科，并从事与IT相关的各种工作，包括在Bowman通信系统项目中接触密码学。

On January 4, 2009, bitcoin was officially born, and at that time, the mining difficulty was extremely low. The New York Times mentioned that Howells might have been one of only five miners in the world at that time. He mined a total of 8,000 bitcoins using a regular Dell XPS laptop from home.

2009年1月4日，比特币正式出生，当时，采矿难度极低。 《纽约时报》提到豪威尔斯当时可能是世界上仅有的五个矿工之一。他使用常规的Dell XPS笔记本电脑从家里开采了8,000个比特币。

At that time, bitcoin was virtually worthless, and he did not pay much attention to it. Howells stored the private key on an old hard drive and casually tossed it into a drawer.

当时，比特币几乎毫无价值，而且他并没有太多关注它。 Howells将私钥存储在旧的硬盘驱动器上，然后随便将其扔进抽屉中。

Fast forward to 2013, the price of bitcoin began to soar, while Howells's life faced a catastrophic cleanup. His partner complained about the clutter in their home, prompting Howells to undertake a major tidying up. Unfortunately, the hard drive containing the bitcoin private key was mistakenly identified as broken junk and was thrown into the trash along with a pile of old electronics, eventually sent to a landfill on the outskirts of Newport, when bitcoin was valued at $13 each.

快进到2013年，比特币的价格开始飙升，而豪威尔斯的生活面临着灾难性的清理。他的伴侣抱怨他们家中的混乱，促使霍威尔进行了重大的整理。不幸的是，包含比特币私钥的硬盘被错误地识别为破碎的垃圾，并与一堆旧电子产品一起扔进了垃圾，最终被送往纽波特郊区的垃圾填埋场，当时比特币的价值为13美元。

"I had no idea what I had lost at that time," Howells later recalled, "until a few months later when the price of bitcoin skyrocketed, I realized—my wealth was buried in a garbage heap."

豪威尔斯后来回忆说：“我当时不知道那时我失去了什么，直到几个月后，当比特币的价格飞涨时，我意识到 - 我的财富被埋葬在垃圾堆中。”

BTC rose from $13 to $100,000, an increase of over 7,700 times.

BTC从13美元上涨至100,000美元，增加了7,700次。

From Shock to Action: The Long Legal Battle

从震惊到行动：长期的法律斗争

By the end of 2013, when the price of bitcoin surpassed $1,000, Howells realized that what he had thrown away might be a gold mine. By the end of 2024, bitcoin briefly exceeded $100,000, making those 8,000 bitcoins worth $800 million, a staggering fortune. Thus, he began negotiations with the Newport City Council, hoping to be allowed to excavate the landfill.

到2013年底，当比特币的价格超过1,000美元时，豪威尔斯意识到他被扔掉的东西可能是金矿。到2024年底，比特币短暂超过了100,000美元，这使8,000个比特币价值8亿美元，这是一笔惊人的财富。因此，他开始与纽波特市议会进行谈判，希望允许挖掘垃圾填埋场。

However, the council's response was cold. They stated that the landfill had accumulated hundreds of thousands of tons of garbage, and excavation would not only be costly but could also release harmful gases, endangering the environment and public health. Howells did not give up; he offered to fund the excavation himself and assemble a professional team, even promising to donate part of the proceeds to the local community, but was still flatly rejected.

但是，理事会的回应很冷。他们说，垃圾填埋场积累了数十万吨的垃圾，发掘不仅是昂贵的，而且可能会释放有害气体，危害环境和公共卫生。豪威尔斯没有放弃；他提出自己为发掘工作提供资金，并组建一支专业团队，甚至承诺将部分收益捐赠给当地社区，但仍被拒绝。

Unwilling to accept defeat, Howells turned to the law. Over the years, he navigated through various levels of courts in the UK, trying to force the council to concede on the grounds of property rights. His legal team was creative, arguing that the hard drive was a modern-day treasure and should rightfully belong to its original owner. Unfortunately, the court did not buy it. The trial court ruled that once garbage is discarded, ownership transfers, and excavation permits fall under the jurisdiction of local authorities.

豪威尔斯不愿接受失败，转向法律。多年来，他在英国的各个级别的法院中航行，试图迫使理事会以财产权为由承认。他的法律团队很有创造力，认为硬盘是现代的宝藏，应该属于其原始所有者。不幸的是，法院没有购买。初审法院裁定，一旦垃圾被丢弃，所有权转移，发掘允许允许属于地方当局的管辖范围。

Appeal Fails: The Court's Final Ruling

上诉失败：法院的最终裁决

On March 13, the UK Court of Appeal ruled on Howells's appeal, upholding the original decision. The judges pointed out in their ruling that environmental protection and public safety take precedence over individual property rights, and there was no evidence to suggest that the hard drive could still be found or that the data could be recovered. The court even quipped that even if bitcoin were worth a fortune, it could not turn a landfill into a gold mine.

3月13日，英国上诉法院裁定霍威尔斯的上诉，坚持原始裁决。法官在裁定中指出，环境保护和公共安全优先于个人财产权，没有证据表明仍然可以找到硬盘驱动器或可以收回数据。法院甚至打趣道，即使比特币值得一笔巨款，也无法将垃圾填埋为金矿。

After the ruling was announced, Howells could not hide his disappointment. He stated, "I respect the court's decision, but that doesn't mean I will give up. My bitcoins are still there, and one day I will

宣布该裁决后，豪威尔斯无法掩盖他的失望。他说：“我尊重法院的决定，但这并不意味着我会放弃。我的比特币仍然在那里，有一天我会