United Kingdom

4303 readers

150 users here now

General community for news/discussion in the UK.

Less serious posts should go in !casualuk@feddit.uk or !andfinally@feddit.uk
More serious politics should go in !uk_politics@feddit.uk.

Try not to spam the same link to multiple feddit.uk communities.
Pick the most appropriate, and put it there.

Posts should be related to UK-centric news, and should be either a link to a reputable source, or a text post on this community.

Opinion pieces are also allowed, provided they are not misleading/misrepresented/drivel, and have proper sources.

If you think "reputable news source" needs some definition, by all means start a meta thread.

Posts should be manually submitted, not by bot. Link titles should not be editorialised.

Disappointing comments will generally be left to fester in ratio, outright horrible comments will be removed.
Message the mods if you feel something really should be removed, or if a user seems to have a pattern of awful comments.

founded 2 years ago

MODERATORS

tom@feddit.uk

GreatAlbatross@feddit.uk

frankPodmore@slrpnk.net

Man who lost bitcoin fortune in Welsh tip explores purchase of entire landfill (www.theguardian.com)

submitted 1 week ago by Emperor@feddit.uk to c/unitedkingdom@feddit.uk

13 comments fedilink hide all child comments

A computer expert who has battled for a decade to recover a £600m bitcoin fortune he believes is buried in a council dump in south Wales is considering buying the site so he can hunt for the missing fortune.

James Howells lost a high court case last month to force Newport city council to allow him to search the tip to retrieve a hard drive he says contains the bitcoins.

The council has since announced plans to close and cap the site, which would almost certainly spell the end of any lingering hopes of reaching the bitcoins. The authority has secured planning permission for a solar farm on part of the land.

Howells, 39, said on Monday it had been “quite a surprise” to hear of the closure plan. He said: “It [the council] claimed at the high court that closing the landfill to allow me to search would have a huge detrimental impact on the people of Newport, whilst at the same time they were planning to close the landfill anyway.

“I expected it would be closed in the coming years because it’s 80/90% full – but didn’t expect its closure so soon. If Newport city council would be willing, I would potentially be interested in purchasing the landfill site ‘as is’ and have discussed this option with investment partners and it is something that is very much on the table.”

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] NigelFrobisher@aussie.zone 3 points 1 week ago (2 children)

He should not an entire mining community around digging for the drive, complete with a male voice choir, Mike-Leigh-esque kitchen sink drama and social commentary. In the end the drive will be lost forever but the real treasure will be the vital and invigorating exploration of life in post-Empire, post-Thatcher Britain we made along the way.

[–] Emperor@feddit.uk 1 points 1 week ago

You jest, but that has potential.

[–] Blackmist@feddit.uk 1 points 1 week ago

He'd make more money from this as a movie idea than he ever would from digging for that fucking drive.