{"id":25822,"date":"2025-08-05T10:47:55","date_gmt":"2025-08-05T07:47:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/briton-tokenizes-rights-to-7500-btc-from-hard-drive-in-landfill\/"},"modified":"2025-08-05T10:47:55","modified_gmt":"2025-08-05T07:47:55","slug":"briton-tokenizes-rights-to-7500-btc-from-hard-drive-in-landfill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/briton-tokenizes-rights-to-7500-btc-from-hard-drive-in-landfill\/","title":{"rendered":"Briton Tokenizes Rights to 7,500 BTC from Hard Drive in Landfill"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>On August 4, <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/CheekAnalytics\/status\/1952409179676656045\">reports emerged<\/a> that James Howells had halted his operation to locate a hard drive containing 7,500 BTC. However, he refuted these rumors and announced the issuance of a token to secure his legal rights to the lost assets.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-conversation=\"none\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">But I am done asking permission.<\/p>\n<p>So I\u2019m tokenizing the entire wallet \u2014 8,000 BTC \u2014 into 800B Ceiniog Coin (INI) \u2014 1:1 satoshi value match<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 Built on Bitcoin<br \/>\u2022 Powered by OP_RETURN<br \/>\u2022 Integrates with Stacks, Runes, Ordinals<br \/>\u2022 Launching Late-2025<\/p>\n<p>The vault is mine, and I say: <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/mC3pPK3qcm\">pic.twitter.com\/mC3pPK3qcm<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 James Howells (@howelzy) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/howelzy\/status\/1952398990819176788?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 4, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>According to Howells, Ceiniog Coin (INI) will be launched by the end of 2025. The total supply will be 800 billion coins, each pegged to 1 satoshi (0.00000001 BTC).<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>\u201cThe goal is to create the Ceiniog ecosystem and launch a high-speed, scalable Web3 environment for payments with fast confirmation, secured by the Bitcoin blockchain and backed by 8,000 BTC,\u201d Howells told <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theblock.co\/post\/365551\/uk-man-denies-giving-up-lost-bitcoin\">The Block<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>In 2013, the Briton accidentally discarded a wallet containing bitcoins now worth $857 million at current rates, which he mined in the early 2010s. The device ended up in a landfill in Newport, Wales.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/AD_4nXeKeSPXd-U2tph_CtLy_D3MSBZ29NBx7oTnDgseW0QoHKmO-kneOBU8vKE7W8_yYPavi42A7t_bzuORHaP5x7wI21ORtXH_M9P93XcTH2gIHI3V8R-kOdaw36t7z8BEC-VdsB8W9Q.webp\" alt=\"Briton Tokenizes Rights to 7,500 BTC from Hard Drive in Landfill\" class=\"wp-image-263266\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The landfill in Newport, where the hard drive with 7,500 BTC is believed to be located. Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/c74zel3ng1vo\">BBC<\/a>.\u00a0<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Since then, Howells has unsuccessfully sought permission to excavate, offered the city council $72 million, devised a plan using AI, and sought to involve Boston Dynamics&#8217; robot dogs in the search.<\/p>\n<p>Local authorities denied him due to environmental and legal risks. Experts <a href=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/news\/british-mans-odds-of-finding-bitcoin-hard-drive-in-landfill-a-mere-0-00000011\">estimated<\/a> Howells&#8217; chances of finding the hard drive at 0.00000011%.<\/p>\n<p>Nonetheless, he was undeterred and took his case to the UK High Court. The court dismissed his \u00a3495 million lawsuit against Newport&#8217;s administration, acknowledging that the disk belongs to them but confirmed the Briton&#8217;s rights to the digital assets.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/AD_4nXdV6c5lSNGEPRFPvoh2xZcC1wLAXkLuxxEcRRBeiEWIEikX-RRIn5wib8DyMWcnG1CKPl2HI_oUBI375pf9EaRWk23mMOYHp8BvuELTyhjNbH4GPmveEjA6yQKpXy30OQe5impOxA.webp\" alt=\"Briton Tokenizes Rights to 7,500 BTC from Hard Drive in Landfill\" class=\"wp-image-263267\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">James Howells. Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/technology\/2025\/feb\/10\/man-who-lost-bitcoin-fortune-in-welsh-tip-explores-purchase-of-entire-landfill\">The Guardian<\/a>.\u00a0<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>In February, British authorities announced plans to seal the landfill. Howells <a href=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/news\/british-man-seeks-to-buy-landfill-in-quest-to-recover-7500-btc\">expressed<\/a> his willingness to purchase part of the site and continue the search, and in July made a formal offer of $33-40 million. However, no response was forthcoming.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>\u201cI am no longer trying to buy the landfill, engage in excavation or land restoration, and am ceasing all negotiations with the council and its representatives,\u201d he noted.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Back in April, the American media company Lebul <a href=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/news\/television-series-to-chronicle-british-mans-lost-7500-btc\">acquired<\/a> exclusive rights to develop and produce Howells&#8217; story.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On August 4, reports emerged that James Howells had halted his operation to locate a hard drive containing 7,500 BTC. However, he refuted these rumors and announced the issuance of a token to secure his legal rights to the lost assets. But I am done asking permission. So I\u2019m tokenizing the entire wallet \u2014 8,000 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25821,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"select":"","news_style_id":"","cryptorium_level":"","_short_excerpt_text":"","creation_source":"","_metatest_mainpost_news_update":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[18,810,57],"class_list":["post-25822","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-bitcoin","tag-united-kingdom","tag-wallets"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"views":"51","promo_type":"","layout_type":"","short_excerpt":"","is_update":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25822","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25822"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25822\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25821"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25822"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25822"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25822"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}