Posted on 11/26/2024 3:15:58 PM PST by nickcarraway
Hafina Eddy-Evans says she took a hard drive to the tip having no idea it contained 8,000 bitcoins, mined by former partner James Howells back in 2009
Hafina Eddy-Evans has recounted the unfortunate moment she realised she had mistakenly thrown away a fortune, and how she broke the news to her former boyfriend that his wealth was lost. She admitted to disposing of an old hard drive at a Welsh dump, unaware it contained a trove of 8,000 Bitcoins, mined by James Howells in 2009, and now valued at a jaw-dropping £569million.
Howell is currently embroiled in a legal battle for permission to scour the Newport Council landfill site where Hafina claims she discarded the hard drive about ten years ago. Despite their separation, Hafina told Mail Online she hopes he succeeds in his quest—not for a share of the windfall but to finally silence him. She explained: "Yes, I threw away his rubbish, he asked me to. The computer part had been disposed of in a black sack along with other unwanted belongings and he begged me to take it away. I had no idea what was in it but I reluctantly dropped it off at the local tip on the way home from going on the school run."
James Howells, 38 (pictured) has launched a legal fight to retrieve the bitcoin wallet accidentally thrown out during an office clear out. (Image: WALES NEWS SERVICE) She added: "I thought he should be running his errands, not me, but I did it to help out. Losing it was not my fault. I'd love nothing more than him to find it. I'm sick and tired of hearing about it."
In his relentless pursuit, James Howells is taking the council to court, hoping to recover the digital 'key' to his Bitcoin fortune, believed to be entombed within 110,000 tons of trash under grass-covered land, reports the Mirror.
The 'lost' fortune, now valued at a staggering £569m in Bitcoin, has led the man to promise he'll give back 10 per cent to his local community. Ms Eddy-Evans, a mother of two, shared her conflicted feelings: "Part of me thinks the council should let the tip site be dug up, it's not helping his mental health with the thoughts of sitting in a fortune he can't get. But the other part thinks for him just to drop it and let it go."
She firmly stated: "I have no claim on whatever money he could be worth. He is the father of my two sons but I don't want a penny of his money." Join our WhatsApp news community here for the latest breaking news. You will receive updates from us daily.
A spokesperson for Newport City Council responded to the ongoing saga, saying: "[The] Council has been contacted multiple times since 2013 about the possibility of retrieving a piece of IT hardware said to be in our landfill site."
They continued: "The council has told Mr Howells multiple times that excavation is not possible under our environmental permit, and that work of that nature would have a huge negative environmental impact on the surrounding area."
The council also clarified its position on the matter: "The council is the only body authorised to carry out operations on the site. Mr Howells's claim has no merit, and the council is vigorously resisting it."
“….for 5,000 years. Bitcoin is nothing more than the Dutch tulips which were once considered “ money”
It was tulip BULBS ...
A lot of people had bitcoins who forgot about it, let it get lost from early on.
For example simply getting an account gave people a few for free.
He told her to dump it ...
“Any moron leaving bitcoin on a hard drive without a backup deserves to lose it. If he had kept his “keys”, he could have recovered it in seconds.”
His 6 bitcoin were worth less than a penny at the time.
OLD WISDOM: If it’s worth saving, then it’s worth saving again. And if it’s worth saving again, then it’s worth saving....AGAIN.
No less than TWO BACKUPS....FOR EVERYTHING.
OLD WISDOM: If it’s worth saving, then it’s worth saving again. And if it’s worth saving again, then it’s worth saving....AGAIN.
No less than TWO BACKUPS....FOR EVERYTHING.
OOPS! 8000 x .001 = $8
Which means it actually exists for no one ever again as far as I understand it. And no hard drive is going to survive 10 years in a landfill.
She sounds like the type of woman that would throw out her son’s collection of comic books and baseball cards.
The guy didn’t put something that valuable in a safety deposit box? It’s all on him.
“Good thing she dumped him. He was skint.”
And the father of her two kids.
“The guy didn’t put something that valuable in a safety deposit box? It’s all on him.”
It was worth $8 in 2009.
“She sounds like the type of woman that would throw out her son’s collection of comic books and baseball cards.”
He told her to toss it.
If England treats Bitcoin the way the US does, as a capital asset, they’d be fools to let that disk rot underground. If that bitcoin is found and exchanged for currency, England could get some serious cap gains tax revenue.
It seems that 569 million is nothing to her, adding the fact that it belonged to her ex
When they first announced bitcoin they were giving a free one to anyone who signed up.
I have no idea where my free bitcoin is, and I am not looking for it cause it is gone baby gone, I probably should spend a few days, but I probably have 20 old ide hard drives and no idea if I actually got it or how (at least I know when so probably that would help)
and who knows if they will even spin up. I did randomly buy an ide to usb2.0 case nib at goodwill so maybe I will look for a box with hard drives.
There is no centralized Bitcoin operation as such
- the coins are simply on the blockchain, like ALL other coins. To have true possess of them, you need the encryption key. Lose the key, lose the coins…that’s why you have backups, even for far less than 8,000 of them.
It is common in the United Kingdom; doesn’t necessarily mean someone is a screeching feminazi. I believe people there do it to “keep” surnames from becoming extinct, and it has apparently been going-on in the upper classes for hundreds of years.
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