British IT professional James Howells, known for losing 8,000 Bitcoin (BTC) as a more famous man, has announced a new approach to exploiting property he accidentally dumped in 2013.
After a decade of hard work to recover a hard drive containing cryptocurrency from a Newport landfill, Howells announced it intends to tokenize lost assets into new cryptocurrencies.
I’m struggling to recover James Howells’ lost bitcoin
Howells’ ordeal began when he accidentally dumped a hard drive holding a private key on 8,000 bitcoins he acquired in the early days of cryptocurrency. The device was buried in a landfill on Dockway.
This allowed long-standing negotiations with Newport City Council to drill. Howells even tried to buy a landfill.
In a recent statement on the X (formerly Twitter) platform, he detailed his thorough efforts to ensure access, including public proposals, profit sharing offers, mediation, legal action, and more than £25 million (approximately $33 million).
Despite these efforts, the courts and councils have consistently denied permission, citing environmental and cost-related concerns. In May 2025, he launched a campaign to raise $75 million by representing 21% of 8,000 Bitcoin. Howells had planned to use the funds to buy the landfill.
“Based on 21% of the wallet’s value (1,675 BTC), Howells’ newly announced landfill token (LTT) will be released as a cultural digital collectible at Token2049 in Singapore on October 1, 2025. The Newport Docksway landfill site is entirely in full.”
Nevertheless, recently there have been reports that he has finally finished searching for lost Bitcoin.
“More than a decade later, James Howells finally gave up on his hard drive search. He held 8,000 Bitcoins in 2013, and is now worth $950 million. By 2030 it could be valued at $8 billion.”
From landfills to code: Howells’ new strategy to regain 8,000 BTC
Nevertheless, Howells has found new ways to turn personal losses into potential economic opportunities.
“There’s no response, there’s no logic, there’s no leadership. They want me to give up, but they’re asking for permission,” he wrote.
He revealed plans to bypass traditional recovery by tokenizing 8,000 Bitcoins to 800 billion Ceiniog coins (INIs) into new cryptocurrencies. The new ceiniog coins lock 1:1 to atshi, the smallest unit of bitcoin. Therefore, it effectively reflects the value of lost 8,000 BTC.
This token is built on the Bitcoin blockchain and utilizes op_return. It also integrates with technologies such as stacks, runes, ordinals.
“To the well-established gatekeeper who blocked me for over 10 years: you can block the gate. You can pack the coat. But you can’t block the blockchain. Crypto has already won.
The Ceiniog Coin project is scheduled to be released by the end of 2025. This intends to bridge the gap between the physical impossibility of recovery and the digital potential of cryptocurrency innovation.
The post that James Howells is turning lost 8,000 bitcoins into blockchain opportunities first appeared on Beincrypto.
