A girlfriend of the British man by accident threw away his arduous disk with roughly 8,000 bitcoins on it in 2013. The years of authorized battle for the proper to retrieve the disk from the waste dump resulted in nothing. These and 4 different tales remind us to deal with our crypto property with warning.
How to not dump bitcoins: James Howells case
The story in regards to the Wales IT employee whose arduous disk with 1000’s of bitcoins bought to the landfill was circulating within the media for years. All this time, he was vainly attempting to achieve entry to the waste dump the place his treasures are mendacity at peace, and plainly on January 9, 2025, the case concluded in a dismal finale.
James Howells, a Newport native, discovered about Bitcoin round 2009 and tried mining for some time earlier than completely forgetting about cryptocurrency for a number of years. Sooner or later, he spilled liquids on his laptop, so he dismantled it, saving his arduous disk, although. The disk allegedly accommodates a personal key to Howells’ Bitcoin pockets. In 2013, his then-girlfriend, Halfina Eddy-Evans, by accident tossed a tough drive away.
Right here’s what Eddy-Evans instructed Day by day Mail in an unique interview:
“The pc half had been disposed of in a black sack together with different undesirable belongings, and he begged me to take it away, saying, ‘There’s a bag of garbage right here to be taken to the tip.’
I had no thought what was in it however I reluctantly dropped it off on the native tip on the way in which dwelling from happening the varsity run… I assumed he ought to be operating his errands, not me, however I did it to assist out… Shedding it was not my fault.”
After some time, Howells realized that the about 8,000 BTC he had mined previously value tens of millions. He tried to discover a valuable disk however failed. After a type of investigation, he got here to the conclusion that the arduous drive with a personal key on it was someplace within the Docksway landfill in Wales. The junk weight on this landfill is estimated at over 1.4 million tons.
Howells, accompanied by a crew of specialists, made plans to excavate the positioning. Though Howells deliberate to pay for the operation himself and donate 25% or 30% to the Newport Metropolis Council and native residents, officers refused him permission, citing environmental impression. The search of the positioning might have resulted in fires and the discharge of toxic gases.
Howells sued Newport Metropolis Council. In his ultimatum, he demanded permission to look the waste dump or a £495 million compensation. On January 9, 2025, it was reported that the Excessive Court docket declined the case as having no practical prospects for fulfillment.
At the moment, the overall value of Howells’ bitcoins was estimated at round $750 million. The potential for the positioning search being profitable is questionable, although. What are the probabilities that the arduous disk in query remains to be operative? What are the probabilities that it’s situated within the Docksway landfill? Does this disk even exist? Why did Howells and Halfina break up? So many questions.
IronKey on my again: the Stephan Thomas case
The case of Stephan Thomas is one other well-known nightmare within the crypto group. A U.S. programmer of German descent, he was paid in BTC for creating the animated academic video about Bitcoin in 2011. Thomas determined to retailer an inexpensive reward of seven,002 BTC (!) on a USB {hardware} pockets, IronKey (round $5.3k on the time).
{Hardware} wallets are well known because the most secure solution to retailer bitcoins. The issue is Thomas misplaced the paper with the password on, and IronKey is programmed to lock the cash ceaselessly after ten incorrect password entries. The multi-millionaire, on paper a minimum of, Thomas did all the things he might and much more to crack the freaking code. He employed cryptography consultants. He even resorted to hypnosis. After eight of ten makes an attempt, nothing helped. Fortunately, in 2012, Thomas began to work in Ripple and has gotten a number of crypto since then with out repeating his previous errors.
Crypto pockets forgets the password: Peter Schiff case
On Jan. 19, 2020, an avid Bitcoin critic, gold maximalist, and Europac chief economist Peter Schiff took to X to share a screenshot from his crypto pockets app, exhibiting that he can not enter the right password. The caption he added learn that his password was not legitimate and the pockets “got corrupted somehow.”
He concluded that proudly owning Bitcoin was a foul thought. After quite a few Bitcoin fans offered him with recommendation or supplied him assist. When Skilled Capital Administration CEO and well-known Bitcoin maxi Anthony Pompliano assumed Schiff merely forgot his password, the latter added that it was not he who forgot the password, however his pockets.
When one other tech CEO, Rahul Sood, requested Schiff to supply his seed phrase, Schiff stated he by no means had one. A number of days later, Schiff admitted that he mistook his PIN for a password however insisted that he nonetheless couldn’t entry his cash. That’s not one thing unusual contemplating the truth that the economist didn’t save his password or seed phrase.
Fortunately sufficient, he stated that it was not a tragedy for him because the bitcoins in his pockets have been gifted, and his plan was to HODL till Bitcoin sinks. Fast reminder: when the story passed off, Bitcoin was traded at round $8,600. This story tells us that irrespective of how excessive your place within the monetary world is should you use crypto apps improperly, you possibly can lose your cash.
Orange paper: Mark Frauenfelder case
One of many early writers for the Wired publication and co-founder of BoingBoing, Mark Frauenfelder, shared his story in Wired. He spent $3,000 shopping for 7.4 BTC in January 2016. When the BTC value grew considerably, he properly determined to maneuver his cash to a {hardware} pockets by Trezor. He wrote down the 24-word seed phrase on an orange piece of paper, created an easy-to-remember PIN code, and added it subsequent to the seed phrase.
Whereas Frauenfelder was on trip, the cleansing service worker threw the orange paper away. In 2017, when the BTC value skyrocketed, Mark determined to maneuver his cash, nevertheless it turned out he forgot a PIN code.
One of many Trezor options is that every incorrectly entered PIN doubles the ready time earlier than the following try. Quickly, Mark discovered himself dealing with an hour-long ready interval. That’s when he determined to contact the assist crew. Nevertheless, and not using a seed phrase written on the identical misplaced paper, they couldn’t do something. It took Frauenfelder 4 hours of a hypnosis session to recall the PIN. An incorrect one. The next makes an attempt resulted in an 18-hour-long pockets block.
As knowledgeable from the IT sphere, Frauenfelder was already acquainted with high-profile fintech consultants. Considered one of them suggested Mark to ask for assist from Saleem Rashid, a prodigy hacker. Rashid managed to hack Trezor and retrieve a PIN and a seed phrase. Please word that the hacked model of the pockets is not supported, and later variations are thought-about secure. Please do your greatest to retailer backup information safely.
Professor discovered the lesson: Alexander Halavais case
Alexander Halavais, a professor of social expertise at Arizona State College, purchased $70 value of BTC in entrance of the category of graduates as part of the tutorial course of in 2010. He didn’t take into consideration these cash a lot at the moment, and subsequently he misplaced entry to his pockets.
Seven years later, in an interview amidst the 2017 crypto craze, Halavais joked that he’s attempting to disregard the information in regards to the present Bitcoin value in order to not get upset.
