Man threw away 7,500 bitcoins that is now worth US$7.5 million

[Jodell88]

A Newport man has been searching a landfill site in south Wales hoping to find a computer hard drive he threw away which is now worth over £4m.
James Howells's hard drive contains 7,500 bitcoins - which is a virtual form of currency for use online.
It had sat in a drawer for years and he had forgotten it contained the bitcoins, which he obtained in 2009 for almost nothing, when he threw it out.
But this week, a single bitcoin's value hit $1,000 (£613) for the first time.
It means Mr Howells's collection is now worth $7.5m (£4.6m).

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-south-east-wales-25134289

I'm sure he never thought bitcoins would be worth this much.

 

[SSSnail]

Pffft, I'm a billionaire and I only own 3 SSSnail coins.

 

[Gillbot]

I'm waiting for these to come back up:

 

[zinfamous]

Doesn't he know that if he puts those back on the market, then the value plummets and they are only worth, like 1 million! D:

 

[wholesalestunna]

That sucks

 

[her209]

 

[Doppel]

That would be extremely hard to live with really.

 

[SKORPI0]

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/nov/27/hard-drive-bitcoin-landfill-site

Buried somewhere under four feet of mud and rubbish, in the Docksway landfill site near Newport, Wales, in a space about the size of a football pitch is a computer hard drive worth more than £4m.

 

[brianmanahan]

That would be extremely hard to live with really.

easy come, easy go

i just went to see someone who was dying

they did not care about money in the slightest

 

[SandEagle]

why publicize it? now hundreds of fools will join in on the landfill search to claim it.

 

[PieIsAwesome]

Um, what? I don't know anything about bitcoins, but why would this stuff be stored locally?

 

[SandEagle]

Um, what? I don't know anything about bitcoins, but why would this stuff be stored locally?

its like hiding money in the cookie jars. you don't expect thieves to look there. you can probably stash a few hundred bitcoins into a harddrive and no one would notice.

 

[Aikouka]

Um, what? I don't know anything about bitcoins, but why would this stuff be stored locally?

Bitcoins are stored in a "wallet", which is pretty much just a file. You can store it remotely using online services, but you have to consider that they essentially become an online bank. That means if they just happen to disappear, so does your money. Anyway, so when he threw away the hard drive with the file on it, his wallet went with it.

 

[Via]

Either fishy or complete metal retardation.

 

[zinfamous]

why publicize it? now hundreds of fools will join in on the landfill search to claim it.

seriously. And the world makes fun of us for BF--now watch these fools trample and suffocate each other while rooting through garbage.





BTW....There was an...emergency and I'm gonna be away for at least a week, guys. Hope you don't miss me.

 

[OCGuy]

why publicize it? now hundreds of fools will join in on the landfill search to claim it.

Greatest troll ever.....think about it.

I'd be interested in how much some ATer's net-worth has exploded in the last 30 days....I know for a fact we have at least one new millionaire member....and several people that are in six-figures. Nobody is talking though, for obvious reasons. :X

 

[Imp]

its like hiding money in the cookie jars. you don't expect thieves to look there. you can probably stash a few hundred bitcoins into a harddrive and no one would notice.

Amateur. Real pros put their money under their mattress.

 

[cpacini]

the local news just teased this story before going to a commercial, but they quoted the value as $6 billion. Lol i think their math is off slightly.

 

[iCyborg]

the local news just teased this story before going to a commercial, but they quoted the value as $6 billion. Lol i think their math is off slightly.

They didn't do any math to get the value, they're just reporting it.

 

[sandorski]

Either fishy or complete metal retardation.

Ya, even when BC wasn't worth much, that would still be $1000s worth. I'm thinking scam.

 

[BUTCH1]

why publicize it? now hundreds of fools will join in on the landfill search to claim it.

Did anyone read the link?, "A spokeswoman from Newport council emphasised that any treasure hunters turning up to the landfill site wouldn't be allowed in, but "obviously, if it was easily retrieved, we'd return it."

Imagine digging through a football field sized area of garbage four feet deep that's four months old, rotten food, soiled diapers, and then they would be constantly adding new trash every day, ouch...

EDIT, even worse imagine if he found it only to find out the platter in the drive was crushed by the compactor in the garbage truck and the data was unrecoverable.. 😱

 

[OCGuy]

People don't see just how implausible this story is......?

 

[lupi]

story now on yahoo as nine mil.

 

[OCGuy]

story now on yahoo as nine mil.

Well it is fluid....that isn't the BS part to the story