在垃圾填埋场失去财富的比特币矿工詹姆斯·豪厄尔斯 (James Howells) 公布了一项新计划来找回丢失的加密货币

尽管遭遇挫折，39 岁的詹姆斯·豪厄尔斯 (James Howells) 表示，他还远未准备好放弃长达十年的追回加密货币财富的追求。

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 岁的 IT 工人，后来成为企业家，他于 2009 年开始开采比特币。他声称自己开采了 8,000 枚比特币，当时这些比特币几乎一文不值。他将它们保存在 2.5 英寸笔记本电脑硬盘上，并藏在办公桌抽屉里。

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，豪厄尔斯当时的合作伙伴错误地将硬盘与其他不需要的物品一起处理掉。据豪厄尔斯称，这辆车最终被运往南威尔士纽波特的 Docksway 垃圾填埋场。

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).

多年来，比特币的价格一路飙升，将豪威尔斯所持有的比特币的潜在价值推高至超过 6 亿英镑（约合 7.8 亿美元）。

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.

上个月，豪厄尔斯做了最后的努力，将案件提交给卡迪夫高等法院，要求市议会要么允许他组织垃圾填埋场挖掘，要么支付高达 4.95 亿英镑的赔偿金。他认为，由恢复工程师组成的专业团队可以免费找到磁盘，当地纳税人无需支付任何费用。

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，纽波特市议会以法律和环境问题为由，试图驳回这一主张。争论的一个关键点是该委员会的立场，即一旦物品进入市政垃圾填埋场，所有权就转移给地方当局。此外，该委员会的法律团队认为，开放该地点可能会导致严重的生态破坏和监管复杂化。

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 法官驳回了 Howells 的主张，宣称审判“不存在成功的现实前景”。

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.

豪厄尔斯在对判决表示失望的同时，强调该裁决不会结束他对解决方案的追求，并将该委员会的做法描述为“生活在黑暗时代”，因为拒绝参与他的提议。

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.

豪厄尔斯并没有被判决吓倒，他推出了他所谓的“代币化”计划——他希望这一举措能够帮助他在不实际找回硬盘的情况下将丢失的比特币货币化。

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.

与历史上的黄金支持的纸币相比，豪厄尔斯表示，他希望创造一种新的加密货币，暂时被称为“詹姆斯币”，其价值将反映垃圾填埋场中无法访问的比特币的价值。

“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.”

“每个人都可以看到比特币永远不会移动，”他说。 “我无法获得私钥，所以它会永远存在。但如果我可以合法地建立这些代币的所有权，我就可以用它们支持新的代币，并在加密货币市场上交易该代币。”

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.

尽管他承认这种方法无法完全收回 6 亿英镑，但他相信这仍然可以为他提供适度的回报，同时创建一个可能吸引投资者的加密企业。

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.

他还提出了“Ceiniog Coin”（ceiniog 是威尔士语中一便士的意思）作为一个潜在的替代名称，希望能够体现出明显的威尔士身份。

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.

自从开始挖掘硬盘的远征以来，豪厄尔斯组建了一支由投资者、工程师和法律顾问组成的国际团队。他们提议精心策划挖掘工作，预计需要 18 至 36 个月的时间，然后进行一年的垃圾填埋修复。

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

根据豪厄尔斯的计划，整个项目将由私人投资者资助，从而消除了议会的任何直接成本。

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.

为了使该提案更加顺利，他向当地政府提供了恢复的比特币价值的 10%。然而，该委员会的法律代表称这是不可接受的“贿赂”，并表示这将迫使市政府“反复无常”地执行环境法规。

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

他们还引用了严格的许可规则，禁止垃圾填埋场内的骚乱。

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.

纽波特市议会强调，它一直以环境风险和豪厄尔斯的主张缺乏法律依据为由拒绝进入垃圾填埋场。

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.”

在高等法院判决后发布的一份声明中，该委员会对这一决定表示欢迎，指出它“已经花费了官员无数个小时的时间”，并且“不能在不违反环境许可的情况下授权进行如此规模的挖掘”。

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.

丢失的硬盘给豪厄尔斯的生活带来了十多年的阴影。他说，一旦在 IT 部门工作，他就辞去了工作，全身心投入到恢复工作中。

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.”

在获得美国对冲基金和其他支持者的支持后，他带着法律论据向法庭提起诉讼，确认他有权寻找他认为的“知识产权数字财产”。

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

尽管凯泽法官维持了委员会的立场，但豪厄尔斯认为法院默认了他对比特币的所有权。

“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.

“我很失望他们不让我继续受审，但当法官说委员会可能拥有物理硬盘，但我仍然是比特币的所有者时，我感到很鼓舞，”豪厄尔斯解释道。

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

他现在正在等待最终命令，希望能够以合法支持他的代币化项目的方式确认他的所有权。

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

尽管在高等法院败诉，豪威尔斯仍然态度坚决。他发誓要升级