For 12 years, he’s been hunting for his hard drive with 770 million dollars worth of Bitcoin buried in a landfill. Now, a new chapter of his journey is just getting started

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It seemed as though the extraordinary tale of James Howells and his real-life treasure hunt had reached its end, but now, a documentary is being produced about it. In 2013, unfortunately, his former partner inadvertently discarded a hard drive containing a Bitcoin wallet. Since then, James has tirelessly pursued the recovery of this misplaced cryptocurrency, which could be valued at over $770 million as of today.

The Bitcoin digging saga continues

Since Bitcoin’s value skyrocketed, Howell came to regret his decision to discard that hard drive. Of course, he then attempted to retrieve it. However, the challenge was that the device is now deeply entombed three to five feet beneath the Docksway landfill in Newport, UK, under a mountain of refuse. He applied for permission to excavate the landfill, but his request was never granted.

After encountering roadblocks with the Newport City Council, he ultimately chose to take legal action against them, but the court case was thrown out in January of this year. The landfill is slated to shut down permanently around 2025/26, and a portion of it will be transformed into a solar farm. As a result, Howell’s fresh strategy is to purchase the landfill to secure access for himself.

As reported in a BBC article, a Los Angeles-based entertainment company named LEBUL is developing a documentary series titled “The Buried Bitcoin: The Real-Life Treasure Hunt of James Howells,” about an entire story. According to Howells himself, this is the case.

For the very first time, I can demonstrate to the world our plans for the landfill site as intended.

After watching this documentary, individuals will likely find the idea reasonable rather than far-fetched, and they may even believe it’s attainable.

The firm announced that the initiative has been garnering significant interest from potential backers, influential figures in cryptocurrency, and major video-streaming services. Howell disclosed that filming is scheduled for this summer, with the documentary expected to debut between October and November.

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2025-06-10 20:02