The UK Court of Appeals has rejected a Wales man’s request to excavate a landfill where he believes his hard drive holding $676 million in Bitcoin was dumped more than a decade ago. 

James Howells posted Friday on Linkedin a screenshot of the appeals court’s ruling, which is final. The software engineer, who mined the lost Bitcoin in 2009, has waged a long legal battle to gain access to the landfill where he believes his tokens may be buried, and he has even considered purchasing the waste site. 

But having exhausted all his options for legal recourse through the U.K. court system, Howells now plans to bring his case to the European Courts of Human Rights. 

“The Great British Injustice System strikes again… Moral of the Story: The state always protects the state,” Howells wrote in his Linkedin post. “Next stop: ECHR.” 

Howells lost his hard drive containing the keys to 8,000 Bitcoin in 2013, when his former partner tossed out the device. Bitcoin’s price peaked that year at roughly $1,130, CoinGecko data shows. 

Since then, the value of those tossed tokens has grown astronomically, however. Bitcoin was trading at $84,500 as of publication time, or more than 7000% higher than its highest price in 2013. 

Howells is one of many early Bitcoin believers whose holdings have grown to be worth a life-changing fortune. But his case also underscores a common reality for many crypto holders—the difficulties of custodying one’s own cryptocurrencies. 

In a letter to Howells, Rt. Hon. Lord Justice Nugee of the U.K. Court of Appeals said he rejected the Bitcoin holder’s appeal because it did not have “any real prospect of success.” 

Howells refuted the judge’s argument in a Friday statement, which he shared with Decrypt. 

“The British establishment wants to sweep this under the carpet, and I will not let them,” he said. “It will not go away—no matter how long it takes!”

Although Howells implied he has a lot of time to fight his case, time to dig up his hard drive is running out. 

A local council that oversees the Welsh landfill is expected to shutter the site, which is nearing maximum capacity, in the 2025-26 financial year, the council’s draft budget shows. 

A White House official told a room of crypto industry leaders this week that the Trump administration wants to acquire as much Bitcoin as possible. 

At a closed-door roundtable hosted by the Bitcoin Policy Institute on Tuesday, Bo Hines, executive director of the Presidential Working Group on Digital Assets, told participants the White House is intent on acquiring as much Bitcoin as it can, according to multiple attendees.

When asked by someone in the room exactly how much Bitcoin the U.S. government might ultimately acquire, Hines joked the question was akin to asking someone how many dollars they’d want, one roundtable attendee told Decrypt. 

A White House official confirmed to Decrypt that Hines indeed made the statement about acquiring as much Bitcoin as possible, but added the caveat that any such acquisitions would be made “in a budget neutral way that doesn’t cost the taxpayers a dime.” 

The private roundtable, which followed a public “Bitcoin for America” policy summit, hosted Bitcoin heavyweights, including Strategy co-founder Michael Saylor, Marathon Digital CEO Fred Thiel, Anchorage Digital CEO Nathan McCauley, and Bitcoin Magazine CEO David Bailey. It also featured three U.S. senators: Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), Bill Hagerty (R-TN), and Bernie Moreno (R-OH). 

At one point during the roundtable, a participant asked Bo Hines whether the White House supports the Bitcoin Act—a piece of legislation reintroduced in the Senate by Lummis on Tuesday that would require the U.S. government buy up to one million BTC, worth roughly $80 billion, and would enshrine into law the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve established by President Donald Trump’s recent executive order. 

After receiving the question, according to one roundtable attendee, Hines then turned to Lummis, whom he was sat next to, and said the White House plans to support legislation that puts a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve into law, and will apply pressure to make sure it passes Congress. 

A White House official emphasized to Decrypt that Hines did not, however, endorse any specific piece of legislation during the event. 

It is currently estimated the U.S. government holds nearly 200,000 BTC, acquired via civil and criminal forfeitures. Senior White House officials have pushed the line in recent days that they support the government purchasing additional Bitcoin to buttress a strategic reserve, so long as those acquisitions are “budget neutral.”

It is debatable whether Lummis’ Bitcoin Act can be considered budget neutral. The bill calls for the U.S. to purchase some $80 billion worth of BTC at current prices—but plans to do so principally by obligating the Federal Reserve to hand over revenues that would theoretically be generated if the central bank were to have its gold certificates reevaluated at market prices. The certificates were last priced in 1971, when the U.S. went off the gold standard. Gold has since increased by over 6,800% in value.

Token Metrics CEO Ian Balina said Wednesday the SEC is expected to drop its case against him, ending a three-year legal battle over allegations he violated U.S. securities laws.

“It’s official: The SEC is dropping its case against me,” Balina tweeted. “This was never just about me—it’s about fairness in crypto.”

Balina’s charges stem from a September 2022 order alleging he failed to disclose compensation received while promoting the Sparkster (SPRK) initial coin offering.

Backing the CEO’s claim, Token Metrics tweeted Monday the charges had been “dropped,” adding that “a possible shift in enforcement trends” was underway.

It’s worth noting the SEC has yet to provide an official statement on the matter. The SEC and Balina did not immediately respond to Decrypt’s request for comment.

The SEC has also not officially updated the case’s status since September 2022, when it announced Sparkster and its CEO, Sajjad Daya, had settled for $35 million.

“This frivolous SEC charge sets a bad precedent for the entire crypto industry,” Balina said at the time. “If investing in a private sale with a discount is a crime, the entire crypto VC space is in trouble.”

The SEC’s complaint alleged Balina received a 30% bonus on his $5 million investment in SPRK tokens but never disclosed this consideration when promoting the tokens to his substantial social media following. 

In May 2024, a judge ruled SPRK tokens qualified as securities under the SEC’s purview.

If confirmed by the regulator, the dismissal would follow several recent SEC decisions to abandon cases against crypto companies since President Trump appointed Mark Uyeda as acting SEC Chair following Gary Gensler’s January departure.

So far, the SEC has dismissed a number of cases containing allegations of securities violations against crypto firms including Binance, Coinbase, OpenSea, Robinhood, Uniswap, Gemini, and Kraken, among others.

Edited by Sebastian Sinclair