The man who accidentally dumped a hard drive containing 8,000 bitcoins worth half a billion dollars into a landfill is suing the local city council for not excavating the site.

James HowellsAccidentally written into the history books for cancellation Bitcoin BTC/USDWhich today is worth more than half a billion dollars, has taken a big step to recover

what happened: In a last-ditch effort, the Wales-based software engineer filed a lawsuit against Newport City Council seeking about 495.31 million British pounds, or about $647 million, in damages for denying a request to excavate the landfill site home to the repeatedly discarded hard drives. , which contains about 8,000 units of Bitcoin, as reported by WellsOnline.

Howells explained that the lawsuit was a ploy to persuade the council to allow his landfill to be dug, not a reflection of the real situation.

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Howells assembled a team of experts to carry out the excavation at no cost to the council. He also proposed to give 10% of the value of recovered coins to the council.

The case is scheduled for hearing in December. Newport Council, however, dismissed the case as “weak” and expressed concern over the potential environmental impact of the proposed mine.

Why does it matter?: The bizarre incident dates back to 2013 when Howells accidentally trashed a hard drive containing 8,000 BTC while cleaning out his office.

The compensation Howells sought was Stash's highest valuation since earlier this year when the leading cryptocurrency hit a new all-time high.

As of this writing, 8,000 BTC is worth $514.37 million, with a market value of $64,296.34 per unit.

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Disclaimer: This content was created in part with assistance from Benzinga Neuro and reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.

Image created using Dal-e