Man Sues Town for $647 Million Over Trashed Bitcoin Hard Drive

A man from the UK named James Howells is suing his local council to try to recover a hard drive containing 8,000 BTC, currently valued around $647 million. And that’s precisely how much he’s suing them for—since he’s blaming them for his not having it.

Back in 2013, Howells’ then-partner mistakenly tossed out the hard drive along with a bunch of other garbage. At the time, Bitcoin was already worth a little bit less than £1 million—and the value of those coins has risen quite a bit in the years since.