The Man Who Threw Away 1 Billion USD Bitcoin Has Denied the Rumors, This Is the Process

James Howells, the British man famous for losing 8,000 Bitcoin in a landfill accident in 2013, is clarifying the situation. On X, Howells denied recent claims on social media that he had given up the search. He firmly rejected the rumors and revealed a new strategy to recover the lost fortune, which is now worth approximately $923 million. Although he no longer seeks permission from the local council to search the landfill, he has not yet given up.

Howells Denies Rumors, Plans to Convert His 1 Billion USD Lost Bitcoin into Ceiniog In a post shared on X, Howells claimed he has not given up and sharply criticized the Newport City Council for years of rejection. For over a decade, he stated he has tried public proposals, legal negotiations, mediation, and even offered more than 30 million dollars to restore the drive buried in the landfill. "1 billion dollars and they have ignored everything," he wrote. Due to not receiving a response from the council, he decided not to wait any longer. Instead of continuing legal battles or making more proposals, Howells announced a new plan: to tokenize the entire wallet of 8,000 BTC into a new cryptocurrency called Ceiniog Coin (INI). Named after an ancient coin from Wales, Ceiniog will operate as a Layer 2 token built on Bitcoin, pegged 1:1 to satoshi, the smallest unit of Bitcoin. He plans to create 800 billion INI tokens, each token directly linked to the 8,000 BTC located in the lost drive. According to Howells, Ceiniog will launch at the end of 2025, supported by the OP_RETURN function of Bitcoin. It will integrate with Web3 projects such as Stacks, Runes, and Ordinals. With the ICO scheduled to take place later this year, Howells hopes the market value of this coin will eventually equal the value of the lost BTC, making him a theoretical billionaire, just 8.34% away from that goal based on the current price. How He Lost Bitcoin and What He Did to Get It Back The story begins in 2013, when James Howells, a British IT expert, accidentally threw away a hard drive containing the private keys to 8,000 BTC, now worth nearly one billion dollars. Realizing his mistake too late, Howells spent the next 12 years trying to recover it. He submitted detailed recovery proposals, including plans for environmental cleanup and landfill scanning using AI. He even suggested raising $75 million by selling 21% of Bitcoin's value to fund the excavation. His most recent official proposal in July 2025, worth between $33 million and $40 million, included the purchase of the entire landfill and a cleanup strategy. Citing environmental risks and a lack of confidence in the results, the Newport City Council rejected this plan. Now, instead of digging through waste, Howells is building Ceiniog Coin as a way to reclaim what he believes is rightfully his. He plans to launch this coin at a discounted price, allowing early supporters to buy in before the coin reaches its full value. He hopes the value of this coin will naturally increase corresponding to the value of 8,000 Bitcoin.