Film to be made on man who lost £570m bitcoin in Newport tip
Mr Howells acquired the bitcoin, also known as BTC, during the early days of the cryptocurrency.He claimed his ex-partner mistakenly threw out the hard drive, containing 8,000 bitcoins, in 2013, with it ending up in a tip owned by Newport City Council.Last month, a High Court judge threw out his efforts to access the landfill or get £495m in compensation, saying there were no "reasonable grounds" for bringing the claim and "no realistic prospect" of succeeding at a full trial.This led Mr Howells to represent himself at the Court of Appeal in London, using artificial intelligence to support his case.However, in March, the court dismissed his appeal, and he is now considering taking the matter to the European Court of Human Rights.Mr Howell has also expressed interest in buying the site after the council said it planned to close it in the 2025-26 financial year, however Newport City Council said it was making no further comment on the matter.
Mr Howells said "every man and his dog wanted to film this," claiming he received about 200 offers from around the world, including from BAFTA and Emmy-winning production companies.He said until recently, "the timing wasn't really right with the legal battles".However, on Tuesday, the Los Angeles-based entertainment company LEBUL announced plans for a docuseries, podcast, and short-form content documenting Mr Howells' mission to recover the mistakenly discarded hard drive containing 8,000 bitcoins.Titled "The Buried Bitcoin: The Real-Life Treasure Hunt of James Howells", the series is set to explore the early days of bitcoin, Mr Howells' involvement, the legal battle, and his high-tech plan to excavate the site, all brought to life with extensive CGI.Mr Howells said it would also follow his efforts to purchase the landfill where the hard drive is believed to be buried."It will follow the live treasure hunt if you will because even though the court has said no to me - I'm not giving up the fight," He added.Reese Van Allen, from LEBUL, said: "This isn't just content. "It's a live-action tech thriller with nearly a billion dollars at stake — and LEBUL is proud to bring it to the world". The company said the series had already begun attracting strong interest from global sponsors, crypto leaders, and major streaming platforms.
Mr Howells said filming is scheduled to take place over the summer, with the documentary set for release in October or November.He added: "This is the first sort of time that I've been able to show the world exactly what we want to do at the landfill site."Once people have viewed this documentary, they won't think this is a crazy plan and they'll think it is very achievable."
What is Bitcoin?
Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency, a virtual or digital currency that has no physical form.Bitcoins can be split into smaller units, with a satoshi being the smallest monetary unit.Satoshis are named after bitcoin's inventor Satoshi Nakamoto – believed to be a pseudonym – who wrote a key document about the currency in 2008.Those investing in the product around this time, like Mr Howells, were part of a "very small" crypto community known as Cypherpunks, said Billy Bambrough, author of the CryptoCodex newsletter.Bitcoin was not the first cryptocurrency to be invented, but it did gain considerable attention with early adherents being "very quickly enamoured with it", Mr Bambrough said.Prices began to rise in about 2016 and 2017, and again in 2020 during the Covid pandemic when "stock markets, cryptocurrencies and meme coins went up hugely"."A lot of people got very rich, but a lot of people also lost money," Mr Bambrough said.The cryptocurrency also saw rapid increases in late 2024, shortly after Donald Trump's victory in the US general election, with his administration being seen as far friendlier towards cryptocurrencies than the Biden White House."A lot of people in the crypto and bitcoin worlds say the price has gone up so much in such a short amount of time, they claim it could go higher and higher," Mr Bambrough said."So I can understand why James [Howells] is keen to find his bitcoin."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
North Wales Chronicle
24 minutes ago
- North Wales Chronicle
Harlech Foodservice acquires Gwynedd company Oren Foods
Harlech Foodservice has taken over Penrhyndeudraeth-based fruit and vegetable wholesaler Oren Foods. The company, which was named Food Wholesaler of the Year by The Caterer magazine, has guaranteed the jobs of all 25 Oren Foods employees. David Cattrall, managing director of Harlech Foodservice, said: "Adding fresh fruit and vegetables to our offer fills a gap for our customers. "It's always been our ambition to be a total range supplier and buying up a well-established and respected local business fills a gap in our range of products. "All the staff at Oren has been offered their job on the same terms and that's something we were committed to from the start of our discussions." By September, the company plans to fully integrate Oren into Harlech's main site. Oren Foods, originally launched 45 years ago as Ffrwythau DJ Fruit by Dei and Cheryl Jones, was rebranded in 2021 and has been run for the past 12 years by their son, Gethin Dwyfor. The business supplies fruit and vegetables to schools, care homes, restaurants, hotels, cafes, and nursing homes across North Wales. Mr Dwyfor said: "The company was originally called DJ Fruits but we changed it to Oren and it's always been my plan to build the business and to have a clear succession plan. "My dream was for a partnership with a locally based company and that has happened and it was always going to be a condition that our staff could keep their jobs and Harlech have always given that assurance. "I will stay on and continue to be involved and that's very exciting for me as well. "I've run the business for 12 years and this will now be a new challenge for me with a bigger business." Mr Cattrall praised Mr Dwyfor and the Oren team. READ MORE: Bangor day therapy base safe as hospice cuts costs by closing Holyhead unit He said: "Gethin and his team will bring the valuable knowledge and experience of their products and their customers they have gained over the years. "We don't have a fresh fruit and vegetable offer and this now gives us a total food service solution for our customers. "It's a great fit because the Oren operation dovetails neatly with what we do and their ethos as a family-run business chimes perfectly with our approach "Gethin's role will be help us settle in and to make sure we have a smooth transfer of the business and provide our customers with the right range of stock and the right produce. "And that will be Welsh whenever possible."
Scotsman
24 minutes ago
- Scotsman
Campaigners walk 185-miles across Scotland for land justice
The walk covers a varied range of landownership from community ownership to venture-capital owned places. Sign up to our daily newsletter – Regular news stories and round-ups from around Scotland direct to your inbox Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Dozens of campaigners for land justice are set to walk across Scotland for their cause. The 185-mile trek will see participants march between the Isle of Skye and Glasgow in September in a mission called 'Just Walk.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Organisers behind the event, Grassroots to Global, a Scotland-based group campaigning for political change and community empowerment, said the walk will 'rekindle the spirit of those who resisted The Clearances, and who fought for Land Justice during the Crofters Wars.' David Lees or Grassroots Global which is behind the Just Walk event | David Lees The three-week-long excursion is also aimed at bringing conversations of land ownership in Scotland more to the fore. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The campaign group points to the increasing number of private companies buying up large swathes of land in Scotland. David Lees, from Grassroots to Global, said: 'We see this very much in the footsteps of The Jarrow March in the '30s and the Marches for Jobs in the 1980s. Five views in one: Knoydart, Sleat, Eigg, Rum, South Uist | Andy Tibbetts 'Despite past campaigns, there are still huge land ownership issues and we now see venture capital companies buying up huge estates in Scotland. 'The march will allow us to highlight injustices, by drawing attention to a system where communities are often excluded from decision-making about the land they live on.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Covering almost 200 miles, the walkers are set to cross different types of land ownership, from community owned to venture-capital owned, Forestry Land Scotland property to private land. 'We will be holding up a magnifying glass to these different places as well as testing the right to roam,' Mr Lees said. He said while traversing Loch Lomond, the walkers hope to speak to nearby communities about the Flamingo-land controversy. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Community Land Scotland (CLS), the main organisations behind community ownership in Scotland, supported the project. Dr Josh Doble, CLS's director of policy and advocacy, said: 'We welcome this walk as a great opportunity to raise awareness of the archaic and deeply unjust issues around land ownership in Scotland. 'It's a long walk, through an area where there is a wide variety of land ownership from corporate, to public, to various levels of private. 'There are also some community owned landholdings en route, which we hope will provide inspiration for what is possible in terms of local economic, social and environmental development if more communities take ownership of land. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'The over-concentration of land in so few private hands is highly unusual globally and Just Walk can help raise public awareness of the need for radical change.' The Land Reform (Scotland) Bill is currently being debated in the Scottish Parliament and is at stage two, where it has seen more than 500 amendments. It has faced major criticism from rural organisations, including estates membership organisation Scottish Land and Estates (SL&E) which claimed some measures, including the breaking up of estates, will result in lasting damage to Scotland's rural economy. Others have argued the paper does not go far enough in splitting large land holdings. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad According to a blog post written last year by land campaigner and former Scottish Greens MSP Andy Wightman, 433 landowners owned 50 per cent of the privately-owned rural land in 2024 compared to 440 in 2012. The 'Just Walk' walkers will leave from Broadford on Skye on September 17 across the hills out of Knoydart and on to Glenfinnan. After crossing the Corran Ferry, the marchers head for Ballachulish and Glen Coe, before following the West Highland Way to Carbeth and finishing at the Broomielaw in Glasgow on October 7.
Daily Mail
4 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Ioan Gruffudd faces off with ex Alice Evans during tense court appearance amid claims divorce left her 'penniless'
Warring exes and Alice Evans came face to face in a Los Angeles courtroom Wednesday. But unlike their last dramatic court confrontation in September - when Evans was kicked out after violating court rules by taking cell-phone photos of an outraged Gruffudd - there were no fireworks this time. Instead, Evans, 56 - wearing a black skirt and shirt, black-rimmed glasses and with her blonde-hair tied back - deliberately ignored her Fantastic Four star former husband Wednesday. Bearded Gruffudd, 51 - in a dark blue suit and tie and light blue dress shirt - sat on the opposite side of the courtroom, also avoiding looking at his ex. His new wife, raven haired Bianca Wallace, 32, sat three rows behind him in court, looking noticeably pregnant in a long navy blue dress under a black jacket. Wednesday's court appearances by all three were supposed to be an evidentiary hearing in which Gruffudd and Evans were to joust over her demands for him to shell out more than the $4,500 he is currently paying in support money for her and their two daughters. But instead, after a 90-minute delay during which Judge Josh Stinn huddled with their lawyers, the judge kicked the can down the road, scheduling another hearing August 12 when a date will be set for the case to go to trial. In the past week, Evans has filed court documents - found by - in which she claimed poverty and was so broke that she had to borrow money from friends and set up a GoFundMe account that raised $18,000 in donations. She said that she and her girls - Ella, 15 and Elsie, 11 - were recently evicted from their LA home because she couldn't afford to pay the $6,500 per month rent. She contended that she had to 'burn through' her savings to pay living expenses and legal fees. And she insisted Gruffudd - who married Wallace in April - can afford to pay more than the $3,000 per month child support and $1,500 spousal support he now pays. But Gruffudd is fighting his ex's cash demands and in his own court filing, blasted Evans' claims, saying that she 'purposely got herself evicted… intentionally ceasing paying rent and instead taking the children on a vacation trip to Europe.' Her motive, he said, was to 'support her false public narrative of financial destitution in an attempt to further harm my reputation... as a fraudulent way to strong-arm me into paying more support than I can afford.' Gruffudd also maintained that subpoenaed bank records show that, far from being broke, Evans made more than $130,000 in 2024 and is expected to earn a similar amount this year - a claim that Evans called 'false and misleading.' In his recent court filing Gruffudd told how he was 'mortified' to have received 'dozens of stressed messages from our minor children in which they have parroted Alice's false and manufactured claims of becoming homeless in the immediate future.' But in her new court documents, Evans denied manipulating the children to send plaintive messages to their father. 'I absolutely did not ask the children to send messages to (Gruffudd) about our eviction and pending homelessness,' she said. 'The children are well aware of our financial distress and the eviction.' Gruffudd and Evans met on the set of the movie 102 Dalmatians more than 20 years ago. They fell in love in real life and were married in Mexico in 2007. Gruffudd filed for divorce in March 2021, shortly after Evans announced on social media that her husband of 14 years was leaving her. They were divorced in July 2023.
