扔掉价值8亿美元的比特币的人正在努力恢复失去的财富

来自威尔士纽波特的计算机科学分析师詹姆斯·豪威尔斯（James Howells）花了十多年的时间与地方当局作斗争以搜查大规模废物网站

A British man who accidentally threw away a hard drive containing Bitcoin now worth around $800 million is making a last-ditch effort to recover his lost fortune — offering to buy the landfill where it was dumped before the site is permanently shut down.

一名不小心扔掉了一个装有比特币的硬盘驱动器，现在价值约8亿美元的硬盘正在做出最后的努力，以恢复失去的财富 - 愿意在该地点永久关闭之前购买垃圾填埋场。

James Howells, a computer science analyst from Newport, Wales, has spent over a decade battling local authorities for permission to search the massive waste site where he believes his missing hard drive is buried. With the Newport City Council preparing to close the landfill, Howells is making a final plea.

来自威尔士纽波特的计算机科学分析师詹姆斯·豪威尔斯（James Howells）花了十多年的时间与地方当局作斗争，以搜查大规模的废物网站，他认为他缺少的硬盘被埋葬了。随着纽波特市议会准备关闭垃圾填埋场，豪威尔斯（Howells）提出了最后的认罪。

Howells' ordeal began in 2013 when he mistakenly discarded the hard drive while cleaning out his office. A miscommunication with his then-partner led to the device — containing the only copy of his 51-character private key necessary to access his Bitcoin wallet — being unknowingly thrown away.

豪威尔斯（Howells）的磨难始于2013年，当时他在清理办公室时错误地丢弃了硬盘驱动器。与当时的合伙人的沟通不畅导致了该设备，这是他在不知不觉中被扔掉的唯一一本可访问他的比特币钱包所需的51个字符的私钥副本。

Back in the late 2000s, when cryptocurrency was still in its infancy, Howells mined Bitcoin as a hobby. He only realized his devastating mistake months later, by which time Bitcoin's value had surged.

早在2000年代后期，加密货币仍处于起步阶段，豪威尔斯将比特币作为一种爱好。几个月后，他才意识到自己毁灭性的错误，到那时比特币的价值飙升了。

Since then, he has repeatedly attempted to recover the device, even offering to fund an excavation and share 25% of the Bitcoin's value with the Newport City Council. However, local authorities have consistently denied his requests. A judge previously ruled that Howells had “no reasonable grounds” for legal action and stated there was “no realistic prospect” of success if the case proceeded to trial.

从那以后，他一再试图恢复该设备，甚至提供为发掘提供资金，并与纽波特市议会分享比特币价值的25％。但是，地方当局一直否认他的要求。法官此前裁定，豪威尔斯（Howells）对法律行动没有“合理的理由”，并表示，如果案件进行审判，就没有“现实的前景”。

Now, as the landfill's closure approaches, Howells is hoping that purchasing the site will finally allow him to search for his long-lost Bitcoin fortune.

现在，随着垃圾填埋场的关闭临近，豪威尔斯（Howells）希望购买该网站最终将使他能够搜索他那些长期的比特币财富。

“This needle is very, very, very valuable — $800 million,” he said, according to SWNS. “Which means I’m willing to search every piece of hay in order to find the needle.”

SWNS说：“这条针非常非常非常有价值 - 8亿美元。” “这意味着我愿意搜索每片干草以找到针头。”

But the Newport City Council has warned that the chances of locating the 12-year-old hard drive remain slim.

但是纽波特市议会警告说，找到12岁的硬盘驱动器的机会仍然很苗条。

“The site is due to be closed imminently and, once closed, there will be no realistic prospect of retrieving the drive,” a spokesperson for the council told SWNS.

该委员会发言人告诉SWNS：“该地点将立即关闭，一旦关闭，就没有现实的前景来取回驱动器。”

“The site is also set to be capped and landscaped, making any future attempt to locate the drive even less likely to succeed.”

“该地点还将被封顶和景观，这使得将来将其定位的任何尝试都降低了成功的可能性。”

Undeterred, Howells is refusing to give up, believing that buried beneath the landfill's mountains of waste could be one of the most valuable lost fortunes in history.

豪威尔斯毫不犹豫地拒绝放弃，认为将其埋在垃圾填埋场的废物山下可能是历史上最有价值的失落命运之一。