A British judge had thrown out James Howells' attempt to sue a council to recover a Bitcoin hard drive, that is now worth £598 million (A$1.187 billion), from a rubbish tip.
Howells argues that a partner mistakenly dumped the hard drive containing a Bitcoin wallet in the Docksway landfill site in 2013.
He appealed to get access to the site but the Newport council asked a High Court Judge to strike out Howells’ legal action to the site or get £495m in compensation.
In his judgement, Judge Keyser KC said there were no “reasonable grounds” to bring up the claim and “no realistic prospect” of succeeding to trial.
According to the BBC, Howells said he has been trying to engage with Newport City Council for the past 12 years and that he’s “very upset” it didn’t go to a full trial.
"It's not about greed, I'm happy to share the proceeds but nobody in a position of power will have a decent conversation with me," he said.
"This ruling has taken everything from me and left me with nothing. It's the great British injustice system striking again."
In a post to X, Howells said he “might appeal” the decision.
The value of Bitcoin has risen more than 80% in 2024 and Howells said as the value of his digital wallet soared, he organised a team of experts to attempt to locate, recover and access the hard drive.
James Goudie KC, for the council, said in a statement that under current law, the Council is now the rightful owner of the hard drive.
“Anything delivered to an authority’s landfill “shall belong” to the authority and may be dealt with accordingly,” he said.
“The claimant had no right to have it or to gain access to it.”
As bitcoin continues to rise, Howells believes the value on his hard drive could be worth £1bn by next year.