I accidentally threw away my friend’s $569 million Bitcoin fortune. It wasn’t my fault, but I hope he finds it… because it will finally shut him up!

A woman has revealed how she accidentally threw away the ‘key’ to her boyfriend’s £569 million Bitcoin fortune as he fights for the right to search a huge landfill in a bid to find it.

Halfina Eddy-Evans, who spoke for the first time about her ex-boyfriend James Howells’ cyber nightmare, admitted taking the hard drive to the Wales tip but claims she did so at his request.

Howells claims he mined Bitcoin himself in 2009 and then forgot about it. But after discovering that the 8,000 coins are now worth around £569 million, he is fighting for the right to search Newport Council’s landfill.

Halfina said she took the hard drive containing the tip’s “key” nine to 10 years ago. The couple has since split.

She said, ‘I hope he finds it, not that I want a cent of his money, but it will shut him up!’

In an exclusive interview with MailOnline, the mother of their two teenage sons admitted: ‘Yes, I took out his rubbish, he asked me to.

‘The computer part had been thrown away in a black bag along with other unwanted belongings and he begged me to take it away saying, ‘There’s a bag of rubbish here that needs to be taken to the dump’.

‘I had no idea what was in it, but I reluctantly dropped it off at the local dump on the way home from the school run.

‘I thought he should be doing his shopping, not me, but I did it to help.

“It wasn’t my fault I lost him.”

She added: “I would love nothing more than for him to find it. I’m tired of hearing about it.’

Halfina Eddy-Evans told how she played a role in throwing away the computer hard drive that unlocked millions, but it was on his orders – and by accident

James Howells has vowed to sue a council in his latest attempt to find the ‘key’ to a Bitcoin jackpot

That digital key is on the hard drive of a laptop that he says is currently buried somewhere among 110,000 tons of waste in a nearby landfill and is now covered in grass.

Ms Eddy-Evans broke her silence after 39-year-old Mr Howells vowed to take a council to court in his latest attempt to find the ‘key’ to a Bitcoin jackpot.

He fights for the right to dig up a tip he believes his lost and buried hard drive was accidentally thrown away.

In a last-ditch effort to help unlock his fortune, he prepares to take the Newport Council in Wales to court.

The ‘lost’ fortune at current prices makes his Bitcoin worth £569 million and he has pledged to donate ten percent of the proceeds back to the local area – enough to transform Newport into ‘Britain’s Dubai or Las Vegas’.

He claims his then partner threw away his unwanted belongings, including computer equipment that contained an important password.

Mrs Eddy-Evans, from Newport, Gwent, admitted: ‘Yes, I threw out his rubbish, he asked me to do it.

“It was years ago, maybe nineteen years, and it was accidentally thrown away.

“But I hope he finds it, not that I want a cent of his money, but it will shut him up!”

He had acquired 8,000 coins after 10 weeks of experimenting with the new cryptocurrency craze.

At the time he did not realize its value and had to stop mining after complaints from his then partner Hafina. He kept his laptop in their bedroom and when it was on, the sound of the fan would put her to sleep.

Shortly afterwards, James threw a glass of lemonade over his laptop and despite attempts to clean it, it never worked properly again.

He sold the components for parts, kept the hard drive and transferred all the photos and music on it to an Apple computer. The only thing he couldn’t copy was the small file containing the passcode for his Bitcoins, as it was not compatible with Apple’s operating system.

He threw the hard drive into the junk drawer most of us have at home and forgot about it for the next three years, focusing on work and family life; by then he and Hafina had two young sons.

The exasperated mother said: “It seems like he’s blaming me, but I don’t think he really is, not that we’re even talking right now.”

Recalling the time her then-partner asked her for a favor, she explained: “He said there were a few black bags of rubbish that needed to be taken to the dump, three or four of them, and he asked me to to do.

The annoyed mum said: ‘It looks like he’s blaming me but I don’t think that’s really the case, not that we’re even talking now’

General view of the recycling and waste dump in Newport, where James Howells believes the hard drive contains the password to his crypto account

‘Reluctantly I did it, but I had no idea what was inside: a hard drive linked to Bitcoin, which became a big thing at the time and has gone through the roof ever since!

“Losing it wasn’t my fault!”

‘At the time, James had thrown the hard drive away, thinking it had no further use.

‘But now he thinks it could be worth a fortune and is still fighting the council. It’s been going on for a long time.”

She added: “I would love for him to find it. I’m tired of hearing about it!

“Part of me thinks the council should have the tipping site dug up because it doesn’t help his mental health to think about a fortune he can’t get.

“But the other part thinks he should just drop it and let it go.

‘People keep tagging me online, my friends and random people, with his comments about losing a fortune.

‘But I say: “Don’t ask me about it!”.

‘I have no claim on the money he might be worth. He is the father of my two sons, but I don’t want a cent of his money.’

The price of Bitcoin recently hit an all-time high of $80,000 – up more than 80% this year and the highest ever since its inception in 2009.

Recycling and waste tip in Newport. He claims his then partner threw away his unwanted belongings, including computer equipment that contained an important password

James has launched a legal battle against Newport City Council to get his hard drive back

But Mr Howells says Bitcoin only needs to hit the $157,000 mark and it would break the billion pound barrier.

‘This problem will never go away. This will always be a treasure hunt,” he said Fortune.

“The treasure is becoming more valuable every day, and it won’t stop.”

There is more than 1.4 million tonnes of waste in the landfill, but Mr Howells says he doesn’t have to sort through it all as he has narrowed the hard drive’s location to an area of ​​100,000 tonnes. BBC.

But Newport City Council has repeatedly refused to allow him to search the area, saying this is ‘not possible under our environmental permit and such work would have a huge negative environmental impact on the surrounding area’.

Mr Howells announced last month that he had sued the council for £495,314,800 in damages, accusing the local authority of ‘withholding my property without my consent’.

A first hearing on a request by the authority to have the application quashed is scheduled for early this month, with a judge set to rule on December 3.

A Newport City Council spokesperson said: ‘Newport City Council has been approached several times since 2013 about the possibility of recovering a piece of IT hardware believed to be in our landfill.

“The council has told Mr Howells on several occasions that excavations are not possible under our environmental permit, and that such work would have a huge negative environmental impact on the surrounding area.

‘The municipality is the only body authorized to carry out work on the site.

‘Sir. Howells’ claim is without merit, and the council strongly opposes it.”