In 2013, while cleaning his office in the city of Nioport, south of Wales, James Hagls accidentally threw a solid disk containing 8,000 bitcoins. At that time, its value was tens of millions of dollars, and today its value is about 950 million dollars. After 12 years of attempts, Hugaws announced his abandonment.
Press to purchase the landfill and official rejection
At the beginning of this year, Hugws thought about buying a waste dump site, which the disk is believed to be buried, to start searching himself. But the city court rejected his request, after a long struggle with the Nioport City Council, claiming environmental and logistical concerns.
Demand and turn the story into a digital legend
Hugaws considered what happened the greatest regret in his life, as the story of his loss turned into a hot material on the means of communication, as some mocked his abandonment after a decade, although recent estimates indicate that the value of these currencies could reach 8 billion dollars by 2030.
Wide and ridiculous reactions of the tragedy
One of the users commented on the “X” platform (formerly Twitter): “He was neglected and he took digital security as a Muslim order. Soon his loss will be one billion dollars.” Another said: “This is an ideal story for a series on Netflix.” BBC revealed that an American company has obtained exclusive rights to produce a dramatic work on the story with a temporary title: “Bitcoin buried”.
Questions and conspiracy theories
Although Hagls announced the stop, some indicated that the hard disk may not have already been lost, asking: “Who stops searching for 8 billion dollars?” Or “Who was getting rid of a hard disk in 2013 at all?”
A final attempt by digital art
Last May, Hugws announced that he intends to codinate 21% of the lost currencies (i.e. about 1675 bitcoin) as a unique digital symbol (Ordinals) that could be sold to the public, which would have provided him about 75 million dollars. He hoped that this would help him finance the purchase of the landfill, and he said then: “We will make an unacceptable offer.” But the project collided with legal and environmental obstacles, to end one of the most digital currency stories Exciting.
