The British who lost 700 million in Bitcoins when he threw his album has just achieved what anyone saw coming: his own series

In the world there is only one hard drive that nobody has been able to find, but many remember. Contains between 7,500 and 8,000 bitcoins and, According to its owneris buried under tons of garbage in a Newport landfill, Wales. James Howells It has been trying to recover it for more than a decade because its digital assets exceed 700 million euros. He has not succeeded. However, its story is now more valuable than ever: an American producer has bought exclusive rights to turn it into docuserie, podcast and, if everything goes as planned, also into content for social networks.

Howells is a computer engineer. He lives in Wales and has been obsessed for years with the idea of ​​recovering that device, which ensures that he keeps the private keys of a digital fortune generated in 2009, when the price of cryptocurrency had not yet risen. At that time, Bitcoin was a newborn experiment. It used to undermine from domestic computers and its value was so low that no one imagined what it would be. Howells was one of the first to get on that wave, and also one of the first to lose everything without having sold anything.

A landfill, a digital fortune and an obsession without end to view

As told the Guradian years agomore than a decade ago, while cleaning at home, confused hard drives. He threw the wrong. Shortly after, seeing how the price of Bitcoin raised, he realized what he had done. “Do you know when you throw something in the trash and you think ‘it’s a bad idea’? It really happened to me,” he told the newspaper. Since then he is convinced that the device ended up in the Docksway Municipal Villagemanaged by the Newport City Council. And since then, he has also tried to recover it by all possible means.

Over the years he has presented different proposals to find the album. In 2022 came to raise an operation of 10.7 million euros To execute with a team of data recovery specialists, environmental engineers and specific machinery. Its plan included the use of artificial intelligence, a robotic arm to sift waste and even Boston Dynamic robot dogss. He also offered part of the money with the authorities and the citizens of Newport.

But nothing worked. Authorities have always refused. They allege that environmental risks are too high, that the operation does not guarantee results and that the public cost, in case of failure, would be unassumable. In January 2025the British Superior Court rejected the claim of Howells, claiming that There was no “realistic possibilities” successful Shortly after, the resource was also dismissed. Howells represented himself in the view, using AI tools to prepare his case. It was not enough.

Now plan Bring the case to the European Court of Human Rights. And meanwhile, consider another option: Buy the landfill. The City Council has announced that it will close during the 2025–2026 year and plans to convert part of the land in a solar park. For Howells, that decision disassembled one of the key arguments used against him in court: to suspend the activity of the landfill to dig would cause damage to the neighbors. If the closure is already underway, he maintains, there should be no more obstacles. He says he talked to investors and ensures that he has support to acquire the installation “as it is.”

This whole route is the one that has captured the attention of Lebula producer based in Los Angeles specialized in multiplatform stories. As we point out above, he has acquired the exclusive rights of Howells’s history to develop what they have entitled ‘The Buried Bitcoin: The Real-Life Treasure Hunt of James Howells‘, a project that will combine different formats and channels. The objective is not only to tell the past, but also to follow in real time the next steps of the protagonist.

The initiative includes “a premium format docuserie”, a narrative Póstcast and a short content strategy for social platforms. Lebul defines the project as “a live treasure search” that mixes technology, judicial drama and personal ambition with a very current backdrop: the promise of cryptocurrencies. As explained by the company, CGI effects and high -level narrative resources will be used to recreate the key moments of history and show the technical plan proposed by Howells.

“This is not just content,” said Reese Van Allen, president of Unscripted Entertainment in Lebul. “It is a real -acting technological thriller With almost one billion dollars at stake, and Lebul is proud to bring it to the world. “The company affirms that the project has already aroused the interest of streaming platforms, global sponsors and relevant figures of the crypto ecosystem. At the moment, however, we do not know what service we could see, if it becomes a reality.

Filming is scheduled for the summer of 2025, with an estimated premiere between October and November. The producer has also confirmed that the story will include the purchase attempt of the landfill, the last judicial failures and the current state of the conflict with the City Council. For Howells, this project represents a unique opportunity: “It is the first time that I will be able to clearly teach what we want to do in the landfill. After seeing the documentary, people will understand that it is not crazy,” told the BBC.

The case has caught the attention of dozens of producers over the years. According to Howells himself, He received more than 200 proposalsincluding some winners of the Bafta and the Emmy. Until now he always said it was not the time. The legal battles were open, and the story still had no shape. Lebul’s announcement marks a change. For the first time, its history becomes a media project with calendar, budget and ambitions digital distribution.

Is the hard drive really there? Is it still intact after more than a decade underground? Will you keep private keys? They are questions impossible to answer, at least for the moment. But what began as a domestic carelessness, as an anecdote that sneaked in every so often in the press, now has a new life. Not to recover money, but to tell the world what has happened.

Images | Lebul | James Howells (Instagram) + Photoshop | KANCHANARA

In Xataka | Bitcoin encryption and other cryptocurrencies will fall. And those responsible will be quantum computers