The woman who accidentally threw away her boyfriend’s $630,000,000 Bitcoin fortune over 10 years ago has finally spoken out, and claims that she hopes he’ll find it.

Much like losing a winning lottery ticket, losing track of a hard drive filled with 8,000 Bitcoins would likely consume the life of anyone.

While it mattered little to the owner of the hard drive, James Howells, at the time, as his mining efforts were collectively worth ‘just’ £4 million ($5.07m), the rise in the price of Bitcoin – especially with the surge of cryptocurrency in recent months – has seen it’s overall value skyrocket beyond $600,000,000.

Speaking to the BBC back in 2013, Howells recalls the situation when he lost track of the hard drive in the process of moving house:

“I had a clearout of my old IT equipment – I hadn’t used this drive for over three years, I believed I’d taken everything off it… so it go thrown in the bin.”

Turns out that Howells wasn’t alone in this mistake, as his girlfriend at the time has revealed that she was indeed the one who took the ‘rubbish’ and dropped it off at the tip.

Turns out Howells wasn’t the only one who made the mistake (Wales News Service)

Halfina Eddy-Evans revealed, in an interview with MailOnline, that Howells asked her to bin the hard drive:

“Yes, I threw the rubbish, he asked me to,” she explains, “The computer part had been disposed of in a black sack along with other unwanted belongings and he begged me to take it away, saying ‘there’s a bag of rubbish here to be taken to the tip.

“I thought he should be running his errands, not me, but I did it to help out.”

I bet the pair wish that she had been a bit less generous now.

What remains, over a decade later, is that Howells has switched his begging to Newport Council, as he has spent the last few years trying to get into the landfill which he claims holds the valuable hard drive.

He’s even offered a share of the money to the Council – which is claimed will transform the area into the ‘Dubai or Las Vegas of the UK’ – although his initial offer of a 25% share has since been reduced to 10% with the rising value.

There’s certainly no love lost between Eddy-Evans and her now ex-boyfriend Howells though, as she has argued that “losing it was not my fault,” and has a rather spiteful reason why she hopes that the drive will find its way back to him:

“I’d love nothing more than him to find it. I’m sick and tired of hearing about it,” continuing on to add “not that I want a penny of his money, but it will shut him up!”

Bitcoin is by far the most valuable cryptocurrency right now (VCG/VCG via Getty Images)

I’m sure that Howells won’t mind too much though if it means he gets his hands on the Bitcoin fortune, although he currently remains in the middle of a £495,314,800 ($627,775,410) civil claim against the Council in a last-ditch effort.

Bitcoin has dropped slightly in value over the past week after reaching an all-time high of $99.655.50, but it remains still the most valuable crypto coin by a significant margin.

If you’ve ever regretting spending money then you’ve got nothing on this one man, who in 2010 spent 10,000 Bitcoin on two pizzas and would have been extremely wealthy today if he’d held on to the money.

Bitcoin regret is a thing more than ever nowadays, as the cryptocurrency has reached staggering highs of over $100,000 following Donald Trump’s US election victory in early November.

There have been horror stories about people losing hard drives containing Bitcoin that would now be worth close over $500 million, but also successful individuals who have held on their investments to become the first Bitcoin billionaires.

Few are quite as heartbreaking as the tale of Laszlo Hanyecz though, who used what was an insignificant amount of the crypto coin at the time to pay for just two pizzas, but that fortune would make him unbelievably rich if sold right now.

Hanyecz could be a multi-billionaire if he’d held onto his Bitcoin (CBS/60 Minutes)

We’ve all seen those experiments where children can either have a cookie now or wait a while to get two, but what would you do if the solo cookie was a lovely cheese pizza, and the reward for waiting 14 years was $1,016,317,300?

Unfortunately Hanyecz chose the first option, and while we’re sure the pizza tasted great at the time, he’s probably regretting his decision massively right now.

It was on May 18, 2010 that he took to Bitcoin Forum to offer 10,000 Bitcoin in exchange ‘a couple of pizzas’ when the value of the combined coins was around $25 at the time.

The staggering thing is that it still took a couple of days for anyone to fulfil his offer, as Hanyecz eventually got his Papa John’s pair. While this offer remained open for a while, he eventually closed it on August 4 of the same year as he couldn’t afford to keep generating Bitcoin – if only he had a bit of foresight.

As mentioned, the Bitcoin he used to trade for the two pizzas would be worth an unbeliveable $1,016,317,300 today at the current price of $101,631.73 101,631.73 per coin.

What’s far worse though is that it wasn’t just one pair of pizzas that Hanyecz traded for, as he has admitted that he parted with 100,000 Bitcoin before eventually shutting up shop. Hopefully the pizzas tasted as good as $10 billion would feel right now.

At least Lazslo can still enjoy his pizza (CBS/60 Minutes)

Thankfully Hanyecz isn’t too rueful about his decision-making 14 years ago, as he told the New York Times that “no one knew [Bitcoin] was going to get so big.”

He sold the rest of his stock when the price was around $1 per coin, but he sees himself as the winner in that scenario: “That was enough to get me a new computer and a couple of new video cards, so I’d say I ended up on top.”

We’re not sure that’s really the same thing as a billion dollar fortune though.

Losing something is one of the biggest bugbears of adulting.

Where have you put your glasses, car keys, and remote? However, imagine if you misplaced your Bitcoin fortune that was worth a mere $632 million.

This is the unfortunate case of James Howells from Newport in the United Kingdom, who is trying to sue his local council over his missing Bitcoin wallet.

Howells wants to gain access to the Docksway landfill site, claiming his ex accidentally dumped a hard drive containing the modern equivalent of $632 million worth of Bitcoin there in 2013.

As Howells was an early ‘miner’ of Bitcoin, his cryptocurrency was only worth a tiny amount of what it would be today.

Howells is trying to locate is $632 million fortune (BBC)

After Donald Trump’s win in the 2024 Presidential Election, crypto has soared across the board, with Bitcoin breaking records.

As reported by the BBC, Howells is accused of trying to ‘bribe’ Newport Council by offering to donate 10% of his missing crypto to the local community if he’s given access to a local rubbish tip.

He’s trying to sue the local authority to gain access to the site or is seeking £495 million (the equivalent of $630 million) in compensation.

The council’s side has said Howells is trying to get it to ‘play fast and loose’, while Dean Armstrong KC, for Howells, says the bribery situation was ‘an unfortunate and pointless phrase’ but maintains that his client has a right to retrieve his Bitcoin from the landfill.

Howells has previously said he doesn’t want to bankrupt Newport Council, however, he has plans to take it ‘all the way’ to get his millions back.

Newport Council has applied for a High Court hearing and for the judge to dismiss Howells’ claim before it goes to trial.

Judge Keyser KC has said he’s reserving his decision for now.

Howells says the phone-sized hard drive contains 8,000 units of Bitcoin, and in a bizarre twist, he’s been using artificial intelligence to try and locate it.

Howells is convinced he can find his missing Bitcoin in the landfill (Matthew Horwood / Contributor / Getty)

He wants to take 100,000 tons of landfill to a facility, where AI will apparently scan it and look for anything that could be the missing hard drive.

In the ongoing battle, Newport Council says it has told Howells multiple times that excavation isn’t possible under its environmental permit, with worries about the negative environmental impact on the nearby area.

Added to this, the council has argued that anything deposited at a landfill site then belongs to the local authority, while Armstrong says the courts need to be careful not to cause ‘a grave injustice’ to Howells. He concludes: “We seek, plainly and candidly, a declaration of rights over the ownership of the Bitcoin.”

Someone needs to find the hard drive in the first place, but according to Howells’ side, it won’t be a needle in a haystack situation.

As Bitcoin continues to climb, it must be frustrating for Howells to see his missing fortune be worth more by the day.

Imagine having so much wealth you can simply ‘forget’ about potential millions sitting in the bank. That’s what apparently happened to Curtis James Jackson III, or as you might know him, 50 Cent. As well as being the man behind hit singles including “In Da Club” and “P.I.M.P.”, Jackson has taken his career beyond music to appear in everything from Spy to the Escape Plan movies. When not spitting lyrics or acting in front of the camera, it turns out 50 Cent is something of a crypto bro. Well, if he can remember where he put his wallet.

Back in 2014, 50 Cent was an early adopter of cryptocurrency and let fans pay for his album with Bitcoin.

If you haven’t heard of “Animal Ambition”, you aren’t alone. 50 Cent only made 700 Bitcoin from the release of “Animal Ambition” and then promptly forgot about it.

Still, with Bitcoin hitting an all-time high and crossing $100k, it would be worth a jaw-dropping $69,156, 878 at the time of writing.

Back when the album was first released, Bitcoin was only worth $662. Consumers were encouraged to get a copy of the album for a fraction of a singular Bitcoin, with his 700 BTC equivalent only pulling in $400k.

When TMZ first reported the news in 2018, the haul was reportedly worth $7-$8 million, showing just how much Bitcoin has soared – you can thank the American election for that one.

Confirming the news back then, Jackson posted a screenshot of the article on Instagram and wrote: “Not bad for a kid from South Side, I’m so proud of me.”

He also shared a shot of him surrounded by Bitcoins and added: “A little bit coin anyone? LOL. l know l make you sick but excuse me I’m getting to the bag.”

In a bizarre twist, The Blast apparently obtained bankruptcy court documents where Jackson claims he never owned any Bitcoin, and maintains that what was invested in “Animal Ambition” was converted into USD before it reached him. He says he went along with the TMZ story because it made him look good.

Still, 50 Cent has made other lucrative moves, like earning somewhere in the region of $100 million when Coca-Cola bought VitaminWater for $4.1 billion.

Let’s also remember that shortly after filing for bankruptcy in 2015, 50 Cent signed on to star in and executive produce the TV show Power for a cool $150 million deal.

No one seems to know what he’s worth these days, with TikToker Frank Michael Smith claiming that while Jackson was worth $500 million in 2010, bankruptcy and other issues mean it was closer to $30 million in 2022. Then again, with him making the cover of The Hollywood Reporter in 2024 to talk about his wealth, it would suggest he’s doing pretty well again. Either way, it sounds like 50 Cent’s Bitcoin stash (if it existed at all) is long gone