Attention Deficit Disorder Prosthetic Memory Program

James Howells

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James Howells - © Attention Deficit Disorder Prosthetic Memory Program

In 2009, James Howells stored 7,500 Bitcoins on his PC, when the digital currency was practically worthless. He later forgot about the stash and accidentally threw away the hard drive at a council landfill site in 2013 near his home in Newport, Wales. Soon after, the price of Bitcoin soared and his ‘virtual wallet’ was valued around £220million. Consequently, Howells appealed to the council to search the city’s landfill site, offering a £55m reward to find it. However, since then, it keeps getting rejected, Newport Council insisting that “the cost of digging up the landfill, storing and treating the waste could run into millions of pounds - without any guarantee of either finding it or it still being in working order.”

In 2021, Howells claimed he has received financial backing from a hedge fund to pay for the search and so contacted engineers, environmentalists and data recovery experts from around the world in his bid to carry out the search, that would worth now around £340million. This consortium includes Ontrack, the data-recovery firm which, in 2003, managed to recover 99 per cent of the data from an hard drive from the Columbia space shuttle, six months after it plunged to Earth.

James Howells - © Attention Deficit Disorder Prosthetic Memory Program
James Howells - © Attention Deficit Disorder Prosthetic Memory Program
Deja Vu - © Attention Deficit Disorder Prosthetic Memory Program
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Deja Vu
Smuggling Schemes - © Attention Deficit Disorder Prosthetic Memory Program
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Smuggling Schemes
Stygian Owl - © Attention Deficit Disorder Prosthetic Memory Program
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Stygian Owl
Oregon Highway 18 Smiley Face - © Attention Deficit Disorder Prosthetic Memory Program
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Oregon Highway 18 Smiley Face
Apparent Retrograde Motion - © Attention Deficit Disorder Prosthetic Memory Program
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Apparent Retrograde Motion
Lenticular Clouds - © Attention Deficit Disorder Prosthetic Memory Program
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Lenticular Clouds
Pseudocreobotra Wahlbergii - © Attention Deficit Disorder Prosthetic Memory Program
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Pseudocreobotra Wahlbergii
The Damned Cast Into Hell - © Attention Deficit Disorder Prosthetic Memory Program
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The Damned Cast Into Hell
Dictators Interior Architecture - © Attention Deficit Disorder Prosthetic Memory Program
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Dictators Interior Architecture
The Iceman - © Attention Deficit Disorder Prosthetic Memory Program
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The Iceman
Wind Swept Trees - © Attention Deficit Disorder Prosthetic Memory Program
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Wind Swept Trees
Longyangxia Dam - © Attention Deficit Disorder Prosthetic Memory Program
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Longyangxia Dam

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