Officials have also claimed that digging up the landfill would cost millions of dollars.

Howells offered the council 750 Bitcoins if he is allowed to dig up the landfill.

So far, his offer was not accepted.

A Bitcoin millionaire in the United Kingdom is fuming after government officials are refusing to grant him access to a landfill where his computer containing 7,500 Bitcoins has been dumped.32-year-old James Howells of Wales threatened to run for office in order to grant himself permission to dig up the landfill of the Household Waste Recycling Centre.

Several years ago, Howells purchased 7,500 Bitcoins, which he stored on his computer.

Four years ago, Howells accidentally throw out the computer.

At that time, his Bitcoins were worth around $1 million.

Now, as a result of the monumental rise in the value of Bitcoin, his fortune jumped to more than $100 million.

Howells approached the Newport City Council several times and asked for permission to dig up the landfill in order to recover his old computer.

His request was rejected.

The Newport City Council claims that it cannot allow digging in the landfill as this would be a health hazard to area residents.

margin trading brokers have also claimed that digging up the landfill would cost millions of dollars.

Howells offered the council 750 Bitcoins if he is allowed to dig up the landfill.

So far, his offer was not accepted.

Howells wrote: “Hey @NewportCouncil what if I ran for council leader at the next local elections and pledged to give 50% of my Bitcoins ($50 million) to the City to sort this place out.”

Officials warned Howells that it would be a criminal offense if the dug up the landfill without permission.

From Gizmodo:

You see, Howells got in on the ground floor of the cryptocoin economy back in February of 2009. Through his computational labors, he amassed around 7,500 bitcoin before his girlfriend, fed up with the noise of block-mining hardware, made him stop. No great loss—the Silk Road was two years away and bitcoin was worth next to nothing.

Most of the equipment he was using was sold for scrap after he spilled lemonade on it, and the hard drive containing the key to his digital wallet sat in a drawer for three years before passing into its final resting place: the trash.

Near the tail end of 2013, Howells took stock of the crypto markets and began to regret his hasty cleaning decisions. At that time bitcoin’s market cap was beginning to climb, and his 7,500 lost coins were worth a few million. Four years later and he still—understandably—hasn’t let it go. One bitcoin is currently valued at $11,500, making the small fortune Howells sent to a landfill a considerably larger fortune of over $80 million. Jokingly (we think), he askedThe Guardian in 2013, “Why aren’t I out there with a shovel now?”

With a few years to reflect on that undertaking, he now seems fully invested in digging up a huge plot of five-year-old dirt and garbage, risking “dangerous gasses and potential landfill fires” to recover a laptop hard drive that may or may not function. The report from the Independentdoes not make clear if Howells even knows specifically which trash hole his millions are located in.

We fully expect new information to surface about Howells another four years from now, when bitcoin is either worth ten times its current value or absolutely nothing at all.

[Telegraph, Independent]