this post was submitted on 14 Feb 2025

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Man who lost $800 million bitcoin in landfill wants to buy the garbage dump (www.aol.com)

submitted 10 months ago by tonytins@pawb.social to c/nottheonion@lemmy.world

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[–] splinter@lemm.ee 47 points 10 months ago (1 children)

My favorite part of these articles is that the total value he lost keeps getting updated to reflect the current price of bitcoin.

[–] Mubelotix@jlai.lu 3 points 10 months ago

Like the bitcoin pizza

[–] markstos@lemmy.world 37 points 10 months ago (4 children)

I was once paid in bitcoin. It was like 1 bitcoin worth about $20. There was nothing to spend it on. I lost track of it. Now that coin would be worth about $100,000. Crazy.

[–] tonytins@pawb.social 17 points 10 months ago

I used to have a little BTC back when faucets were still a thing. Managed to make a decent trade later on but nothing groundbreaking.

[–] MrQuallzin@lemmy.world 12 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I paid a bitcoin for a pizza once

[–] naeap@sopuli.xyz 9 points 10 months ago

Just one for a whole pizza?
That's pretty much a bargain in bitcoin history

[–] Evotech@lemmy.world 4 points 10 months ago

If I had a dollar for every time I heard a story like that I'd have a bitcoin

[–] pezhore@infosec.pub 2 points 10 months ago

I have four whole bitcoins from when you could sign up for sites that just gave them out. That wallet has been missing for the better part of a decade. 🫠

[+] YamahaRevstar@lemmy.world 37 points 10 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (3 children)

[deleted]

[–] Catoblepas@lemmy.blahaj.zone 30 points 10 months ago (2 children)

At this point even if he finds the drive I can’t imagine it’s survived this long in a dump. No reason to throw good money after bad just to find a dead drive. Although I imagine at this point it’s so emotionally charged that there’s not a lot of logical decision making being made.

[–] Saik0Shinigami@lemmy.saik0.com 13 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I can’t imagine it’s survived this long in a dump

It likely didn't even survive the truck that the trash was taken away in. The hydraulic crusher on those trucks can, and will bend the drive... shattering the platters inside.

This guy is dumb.

[–] Mubelotix@jlai.lu 3 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Yeah, he is only interested in recovering it for personal gain. If that guy found his drive, it would harm Bitcoin price and hence, credibility

[–] AnyOldName3@lemmy.world 3 points 10 months ago

A billion dollars worth of bitcoin isn't that much of the total amount of bitcoin any more, so any impact on the price would be because of people reacting emotionally to the news, not because they're was suddenly a flood of extra bitcoin in circulation.

[–] yarr@feddit.nl 7 points 10 months ago (1 children)

This will play out like a Black Mirror episode. I’m calling it. The day he finds that drive is the day before bitcoin crashes and is worth $4.35 per coin.

Episode Title: "Dumpster Fire"

Premise: A man finds an old hard drive in a landfill containing nearly $800 million worth of Bitcoin. As he tries to uncover the identity of its rightful owner, he becomes entangled in a dark web of corporate espionage, government corruption, and the true cost of cryptocurrency speculation.

Plot:

James Howells, desperate to retrieve his lost fortune, hires a team of digital forensics experts to locate the hard drive. They eventually track it down to the same Welsh landfill where James first discarded it all those years ago.

As they begin to dig, James's obsession with regaining his fortune grows, and he becomes fixated on the idea that the hard drive is the key to his comeback. He convinces himself that the person who buried the drive must be a wealthy individual with a grudge against him.

However, as the digging progresses, James discovers that the hard drive contains not only Bitcoin but also a trove of incriminating documents about corporate malfeasance, tax evasion, and other nefarious activities. The person who buried the drive is revealed to be a high-ranking executive at a multinational tech firm, hiding evidence of their company's involvement in illicit cryptocurrency mining operations.

As James delves deeper into the mystery, he realizes that his actions have attracted unwanted attention from powerful forces seeking to keep the truth buried. He becomes trapped in a cat-and-mouse game with corporate agents and government agents trying to silence him.

[–] jagged_circle@feddit.nl 1 points 10 months ago

Lol bitcoin will crash, but it will never be that low. $50,000 maybe.

[–] bradboimler@lemmy.world 11 points 10 months ago (1 children)

aol.com?

[–] tonytins@pawb.social 5 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I thought I clicked the original CNN article, but I got the AOL copy instead. Not that it matters. It's still the same one.

[–] bradboimler@lemmy.world 7 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I was amused that AOL is still a thing :)

[–] tonytins@pawb.social 3 points 10 months ago

Indeed, it is. My original email is still there, too. xD

[–] fenrasulfr@lemmy.world 10 points 10 months ago

Well it is both funny and depressing to follow someones descent into madness.

[–] Marthirial@lemmy.world 5 points 10 months ago

Make it a TV show where contestants rummage through trash and one pretends to find the BC so the man who lost it gets his hopes up just to find out it was a ruse. 12 seasons, 9 episodes each.

[–] Blackout@fedia.io 3 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Terrible purchase. Already out $800 mil and a dump doesn't make that much money or Elon Musk would own one.

[–] whatwhatwhatwhat@lemmy.world 1 points 10 months ago

Musk wouldn’t just own one, he’d claim he invented them.

[–] Evotech@lemmy.world 3 points 10 months ago

Man he must be so sure it's there

[–] Blass_Rose@pawb.social 2 points 10 months ago

I saw one like this where a guy hired a hacker to get into his encrypted wallet device because he was sure it had like $100k in it. Guy broke in, pulled up the Bitcoin wallet and... It was empty. Dude had forgotten that he sold all his Bitcoin YEARS ago.