Finding Bitcoins in a rubbish heap is a lot harder than finding a needle in a haystack. James Howell found this out the hard way when he accidentally threw out his Dell hardrive containing 7,500 Bitcoins, worth R60 million.

His digital wallet now lies under four feet of rubbish and mud in a space the size of a football field – the Docksway landfill site near Newport, Wales. Silly, silly, silly James threw out his defunct Dell laptop while cleaning out his desk mid-July this year.

James works in IT and made his Bitcoins in early 2009, back when the currency was only known in IT circles. Since then, Bitcoins have become the currency of the future, and central banks are seriously considering its financial position.

But James didn’t know this. You see, he was distracted and busy “having kids” and “doing the house up.”

The lost hard drive contains the cryptographic private key that is needed to access spend Bitcoins. Without it, the Bitcoins are lost forever. James didn’t make a backup. What is it with this guy?

James did consider getting his hands dirty, but was told that even the police would need a 15-person team and special equipment to be able to conduct a thorough search of the rubbish heap. Don’t fret, not all hope is lost.

“There’s a pot of gold there for someone … I’m even thinking of registering www.returnmybitcoin.com. It’s available.”

So, who’s up for getting their hands dirty?

[Source : TheGuardian]