James Howells, a computer engineer accidentally discarded a hard drive from an old computer containing 8000 bitcoins. The incident took place during an office clearout in 2013, however, he hopes that AI and Robot dogs will get it back. He believes that the hardware is in a rubbish dump in Newport, South Wales.
He requested Newport council to use artificial intelligence to search through thousands of tonnes of landfill. However, the council denied his requests to search the site due to environmental concerns.
Hatched a £10m hi-tech scheme
Howells hatched a £10m hi-tech scheme backed by hedge fund money to find the asset. He is looking forward to using AI technology to operate and filter the rubbish. This will help to find the digital asset by hand at a pop-up facility near the landfill site.
With this new plan, he will hire several data recovery experts and environmentalists. He also uses robot dogs to ensure security so that no other person steals the hard drive.
Howells said: “Digging up a landfill is a huge operation in itself. The funding has been secured. We’ve brought on an AI specialist. Their technology can easily be retrained to search for a hard drive.’’
“We’ve also got an environmental team on board. We’ve got a well-rounded team of various experts, with various expertise, which, when we all come together, are capable of completing this task to a very high standard.”
Nine to 12 months search for digital asset
According to Howells, the search process will take around 12 months. However, it is not guaranteed that the hunt will be successful or hard drive will be recovered. Meanwhile, if they become successful, they will help the community of Newport.
Howells said: “We’ve got a whole list of incentives, of good cases we’d like to do for the community.
“One of the things we’d like to do on the actual landfill site, once we’ve cleaned it up and recovered that land, is put a power generation facility, maybe a couple of wind turbines.
“We’d like to set up a community-owned mining facility which is using that clean electricity to create bitcoin for the people of Newport.”
Permit issue
Meanwhile, the council is not entertaining his idea or meeting him. A spokesperson for Newport city council said: “We have statutory duties which we must carry out in managing the landfill site.
“Part of this is managing the ecological risk to the site and the wider area. Mr Howells’ proposals pose a significant ecological risk which we cannot accept, and indeed are prevented from considering by the terms of our permit.”