$250 MILLION of Bitcoin lost, an ETF could have prevented this!

It's a nightmarish situation - you mine some Bitcoin onto a hard drive when it's worth pennies, forget about the hard drive, end up accidentally throwing out the hard drive, and then realising that values of crypto have taken off since then and you've thrown away a quarter of a billion dollars! Richard Hammond met up with James, a crypto miner from Wales, who has lost out big time, but is putting together a serious plan to rescue his Bitcoin fortune.

[@flaviantropy]

I threw away $10 accidentally once and that still bothers me

[@kariak55]

I accidentally tore a dollar bill almost in half a few days ago, and it hurt my heart.

[@queen4334]

@@kariak55 I accidentally dropped a penny into a drain hole

[@brokencreationlordmegatrol3037]

@@queen4334 you monster

[@swiftyswallosit]

@@kariak55 you know it doesn't matter if its in half its still usable or you can trade it in for another note i did it before with a 20

[@Bruno-xb2mt]

I accidentally threw a pack of ready salted crisp in the bin instead of a chocolate wrapper. It still bothers me

[@Rob-Robski-Fitt]

Richard does stuff like this so well. Glad the team are going into different areas and doing new stuff, better than most stuff on TV atm.👍

[@jamesgazeley]

You watch TV?

[@jamesk1988]

@@jamesgazeley o

[@miroslavmilan]

So James… what are you going to do with all the Bitcoin if you finally find it? . . . . . . I’m going to HODL.

[@OleJanssen]

This story has been told over and over, but never has anyone done so in such great detail or actually involved the guy in question. My respect to Richard Hammond and everyone else who was involved in the making of this video!

[@peterdonnell3784]

Best of luck to him tbh, sounds like he's got a solid plan and it's in the interest of a lot of people that he succeeds now.

[@nightlife791]

yeah allot of vultures too

[@wSayonara]

when that amount on money, people are going to be willing to commit horrendous crime in order to get it, i wouldn't be surprised if he was found dead

[@iLeetjeeh]

If perseverance was a person, it would be this guy

[@leonardokula5742]

U mean obsession lol

[@jmsjms296]

👾👾

[@AmbiAnts589]

It's like searching for a ̶n̶e̶e̶d̶l̶e̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶a̶ ̶h̶a̶y̶s̶t̶a̶c̶k̶ harddrive in a landfill.

[@timpriddy349]

I was homeless.....now ima truckdriver my life wont ever make THAT much money but pulling yourself up is a genuine feeling

[@Okurka.]

So you're still homeless?

[@calebfuller4713]

Congratulations. Truck drivers are a vital backbone of society! Without you, everything from Amazon down collapses!

[@TheDJOblivion]

​@@calebfuller4713amazon is the least important business related to semi truck delivery.

[@markdelej]

Richard is a ledgend. A proper journalist. Reminds me of louis theroux. He’s just genuinely interested in the stories and follows along and gets fully involved. I can imagine him putting on his gloves and actually searching the dump to help the guy.

[@lewisarthur6778]

Not something I expected hammond to be doing tbh, but I'm all for it. I think like many people here, the trio could do literally anything and I would be interested in it, the way they speak, articulate their words and quick laughs, makes any point of conversation interesting.

[@CymruJedi]

This geezer put together his own justice league

[@Jenkowich]

That's 500 Million Dollars right now

[@NielsHeusinkveld]

It would be a bit cruel if, when he finally finds the drive, the value dropped to about 20p..

[@Person-tj2sw]

Nah that would be horrific

[@MrLafferty]

Or it was water damaged

[@tolunayicduygu9253]

An interesting video from Hammond and his team. I'm starting to like this channel. Well done chaps.

[@Scampi95]

I was also involved in bitcoin very early on. However I withdrew my balance as I didn't think it was going anywhere. I had forgotten all about it until I checked my account many years later. The 3 pence I had left in my account had turned into £460. Not joking. I hated myself for a while. Now I don't live my live with any regrets.

[@mudkipsarekool]

I love this! Richard is a excellent presenter on whatever topic he covers

[@MarAwanaDISPOCO.]

If you have a hundred thousand funds in your name, you're literally invincible because nobody can touch your funds

[@876r876rf]

I really hope he gets it. That would just be an incredible story

[@Goodinvestment_23]

Yeah it easy to recover your bitcoin

[@PayTheDevil661]

Hammond's curiosity and compassion really brings a wonderful resonance to this oft told tale.

[@Ganiscol]

That was interesting, hoping to see more content of this caliber on this channel. And it reminded me of my own bitcoin encounter in the early days of it, where I dabbled into mining it, saw how awful slow it is after an unknown fraction of a full bitcoin and gave it up. He went way further and still has nothing to show for at this point - but I wish him luck in recovering his wealth! Now, please excuse me while I go to the basement and dig up some old harddrives, there may be some small change left somewhere... 😅

[@ATomRileyA]

I do hope he gets it back and it all works out for him, cant imagine what that must feel like to have that much money just sitting in a landfill and not being able to get it.

[@CockatooDude]

Well we know for certain it's enough to not be able to stop trying to get it back for 9 years.

[@richardharrold9736]

@@CockatooDude the man's a fool. There is no value in Bitcoin. He needs to move on with his life and do something valuable. His talk of distributing Bitcoin to the town and turning Newport into a "crypto mecca" is incredibly foolish and potentially fraudulent.

[@Activemeasures2023]

@@richardharrold9736 Nice try, Mr. Rockafeller.

[@shawn-zx9xt]

You can see the toll it has taken on him.

[@richardharrold9736]

@@shawn-zx9xt he should just have moved on instead of spending a decade chasing a mirage.

[@SteroidWalnut]

5:15 the Newport landfill specialist looks exactly how you would expect him to look

[@robholland6460]

Resilience personified

[@jamesmurphy9772]

Successful people don't become that way overnight. What most people see at a glance- wealth, a great career, purpose-is the result of hard work and hustle over time. I pray that anyone who reads this will be successful in life..

[@mathaistyoshom3581]

@Hassan muhammad Bogobiri You're right

[@mathaistyoshom3581]

But I don't know why people remain poor due to ignorance

[@alicemorgan3259]

@@edithgicquel7104 Speaking of investing, I know I am blessed if not I wouldn't have met someone who is as spectacular as Mr Aitor Lorenzo

[@alicemorgan3259]

He made profits of over $67,000 U.S dollar

[@nicolinevallee7310]

@@alicemorgan3259 wow!! you know him too?

[@marioxdc123]

And then you remember that Hammond is actually a great presenter !

[@Riley_Mundt]

It's an interesting story, but he's operating off of a LOT of assumptions: It is in a recoverable condition; It is capable of being positively identified; It hasn't been scavenged already; The city could actually make use of the data on it. The man is basically hoping to win the lottery a second time.

[@arrondickens9167]

Also the assumption that if that hard drive was sat in his drawer, that he wouldn't have sold them when they were worth maybe £1k.

[@bjornekloo]

Exactly. I cant help but think if it was me.. Would i take the risk, knowing that if i fail, i will in the end have spend countless years and money of my life. And would i ever want to give up trying to find it. If yes, then i would have wasted ALOT of my life, and if no, then i might forever be known as the dude who spent his whole life trying to find a harddrive. Tough to think about. I dont know what i would have done. But that guy must be VERY certain about his case.

[@lordmfitzgerald3rd754]

Just remember everyone he’s made a pledge. Doesn’t mean it’s a donation lol

[@Ganiscol]

He cant donate what he doesnt have, so its a pledge to donate in case he gets it. Sounds legit enough.

[@lordmfitzgerald3rd754]

@@Ganiscol yes absolutely correct! What you said was absolutely sound, legit, honest and smart!!! I couldn’t agree with you more!!! If only there’s other people in the world that would agree with us! 🤣

[@Yo-ItsYo]

His dog ate a bee

[@GeorgeDonnelly]

So impressive that James is persisting and not only that but has gathered this amazing team and plan and vibe despite this unfortunate accident.

[@TheToneBender]

I would love another interview with him after he's found it and the bitcoins have been recovered.

[@pneron2032]

Well finding it is one thing. Rot and rain would have ruined his hard drive years ago.

[@bigwizard807]

@@pneron2032 the data recovery expert says there is a high chance of recovery - he claims to have recovered data from hard drives fallen into the sea and from plane crashes.

[@pneron2032]

@@bigwizard807 Who? (I didn't watch the entire video) He's hoping for a massive payout. This thing is never going to get found.

[@bigwizard807]

@@pneron2032 he has a whole team of experts - an AI company for detection, landfill people for excavation, and a data recovery person if they eventually find it.

[@bigfan2452]

@Bigwizard just because he has those experts it does not mean that he will ever get back the hard drive. It's time to accept the loss and move on.

[@luke9571]

Hammond is better at presenting this sort of “outside the box” tv than Top Gear. His science/engineering shows are brilliant too

[@NiceterCoolster]

He’s the jack of all trades and less obnoxious than Jeremy Clarkson.

[@guywithjeep]

That drive, even if found, is beyond saving. Crushed and 9 years in a landfill...

[@AdamKyleAnderson]

If the drive is still intact then all the data on it is recverable.

[@guywithjeep]

@@AdamKyleAnderson you think that after 9 years buried, there has been no water ingress?

[@AdamKyleAnderson]

@@guywithjeep Very unlikely. Even if so HDD platters store information magnetically and can be cleaned and data restored. The Verge have done a few articles on recovering HDD's that have been water " damaged "

[@guywithjeep]

@@AdamKyleAnderson lol, the verge.

[@guywithjeep]

@@AdamKyleAnderson huge difference between a drive that recently was water damaged and a 9 year's in the dump water damaged drive.

[@nicholas045]

As an information hoarder (as I call myself) I find it unbelievable that he didn’t triple check his hard drives before tossing them.

[@ZenosTrip]

Yep. Drives are so small now anyway so I just keep all my old ones.

[@serenityinside1]

Because he is slack and dilatory by nature ? This is a. Man who says “ a use me in just going to change into business attire “ to Richard , and for the biggest meeting of his life appears in a short sleeved polo shirt. If you’re under 40 say you won’t get the significance of that of course. He was the biggest idiot known to man - the story will never die !

[@jmsjms296]

@@serenityinside1 A prototype loser

[@smulestar]

​@@serenityinside1why are you so bitter who hurt you?

[@brianpenland973]

I hope he's able to find the hard drive and, help the town out. It's a great suggestion that, the whole world was there when it went wrong, the whole world should be there, when it finally goes right. Best wishes, from AMERICA.

[@Slaphappy1975]

Fascinating. I'll definitely be following this story.

[@jonathanmatthews4774]

9 years of waste? That is a massive amount of cubic trash. I wish this guy the best of success.

[@angelaCB1415]

I remember hearing about this on the news. Very interesting. Best of luck to him. Great job to Mr. Hammond and the crew.

[@him050]

If you gave the people of Newport a load of money, they’d probably just do the sensible thing and move

[@Greald-ps5qv]

He took mining bitcoin to another level

[@FarhanHussain]

I really hope that he finds it, it will a modern day treasure hunt!

[@kimtrigwell2199]

Best of luck to James! This is a fascinating and frustrating story, I hope the plan comes together! Loving this channel with Hammond and May, hoping to see Clarkson too! will watch anything those three present :)

[@jamiewales9810]

This guy said in a different interview he threw away his laptop away but thought he backed everything up on his new computer, but on this interview he says he threw his wrong hard drive away 🤔

[@DublinDriftR33]

You'll definitely find it pal its not a case of if but when . genuine chap

[@DJRickDawson]

was not expecting this.

[@Cyrax89721]

Also worth a note is here is the value of the forked chain coins. his Bitcoin Cash (BCH) balance is also worth ~$1 million alone.

[@AlexReimerTrail]

Well, he was sloppy and he still is. Leaving his computer unlocked in front of strangers (4:08), that's the first thing you should learn not to do.

[@shanx5k]

Is there any update on this story?

[@Ingens_Scherz]

This is ultimately about the intersection between hard probabilities and the psychology of hope. In this case, the near certainty is that this object is lost forever (probably destroyed long ago). If the hope was truly connected to the probability, then this person would have been able to move on long ago, regretfully but rationally. However, because of the size of the potential reward, the probability has been ignored, so hope has mutated into obsession. Obsession often leads to the most fatally dangerous human demon of all: despair. Despair is the most destructive state of mind of them all. It leads to...well, I won't say what it leads to here because it's too horrible for most people to contemplate. Let it go.

[@jmsjms296]

Smart!

[@CaptainPlainJaneway]

I kinda miss when this channel was just James May locking his 20-something-year-old employees in his basement force-feeding them various sandwiches.

[@thewelshlad1956]

Agreed

[@robdotcom71]

By the time he finds it his bitcoin will be worth about 100 bucks....lol

[@kev8343]

If only you knew, never mind.

[@SeptemberSeventeenth]

By the time he finds the 8000 Bitcoin, it will be worth... 8000 Bitcoin

[@_57u]

Man i really really hope they can come together and find that drive

[@jonathanmaybury5698]

Are we going to get updates? i.e. the council's decision? what deal was struck? what is the likelihood of the hard drive being recoverable? do they know that the drive is definatley at that site? how long are they prepared to dig with no results? and who pays for all the work done if they come up empty?

[@lee-r56]

Spoiler alert: the council is going to say no. Again.

[@jonathanmaybury5698]

@@lee-r56 What makes you think they'll say no? Do you know the reason why they said no before? If so, could you tell us? Also, do you think that they'll say no for the same reason whatever that may be? Do you live local, and know a bit about the Council? Or do you want to stay anonymous?

[@abucketofelves]

A lot of those questions were answered in the video.

[@preston7960]

There is absolutely no way the council will ever say yes to this, 0% chance. His only chance is to take them to court and claim they have put an embargo on his hard drive and therefore his funds.

[@jonathanmaybury5698]

@@abucketofelves No! many questions were glossed over, take the question "what if it is waterlogged?" he said the drive would be protected by the plastic bag! The bag at that time would have been bio-degradable and after 9 years, it would be in ribbons by now, to my mind they have not thought this through at all.

[@dannysunay4386]

If successful, it will be close to a miracle. Wish this gentleman all the luck.

[@joonassummanen6130]

I do hope he'll get the hard drive back. BTW you should film the search. I would totally watch that.

[@IanLouisRSA]

Had a lol when at the end of the video, you see the pop up for *check this out" and it's James May and weird sandwiches hahaha

[@ElliottFCB73]

Love this! Hammond is a perfect presenter - and I really hope the council see the worth in them agreeing to the rescue mission !

[@Al-xj4vn]

Council makes that money in a day in taxes from kingdom slaves

[@featherstonehobbies]

like how hammonds daily driver is a ford pickup he is a really down to earth chap

[@Khuros]

"his" coins? He threw away the harddrive. Once the trash company picked it up they now owned it. If he ever finds it, he will spend it all on legal fees.

[@Sizukun1]

Its just like the other guy I think in the US; he encrypted his hard drive and forgot the password. He's at peace with it having 1 more password try before it fully locks itself knowing that money never was in his hands.

[@alphaenterprise2232]

Welp best of luck to him

[@alphaenterprise2232]

And it probably will erase all data , if it just locks data would be recoverable

[@ashleycox432]

This is brilliant. I followed this story from the beginning and it's great to see you cover it. really enjoying the diversified content, keep up the great work.

[@Laviarty]

I really love how diverse the content got with the rebrand. Really keeps the channel interesting

[@stryk3r360]

i love richard man so versatile what a story

[@ModeratelyAmused]

Where I think this goes wrong, is up front offering everyone 50 quid. Those that don't care about the money don't need the offer of it. Those that do care about the money will say "why only that much?"

[@hiraahmedshaikh]

Oh I can't wait to see what happens next. Hope we get an update

[@eg1885]

I hope he finds it but the giant claw picking up the scrap metal is an electromagnet. In my mind, thats enough power to wipe the data off the drive.

[@philpullan8595]

The claw is hydraulic not magnetic.

[@YellowTucan]

Really enjoyed this video, getting to know unique and stories in a more personal way makes this super interesting, can't wait to know of they find it

[@Metal-Possum]

What a cool guy.

[@SerenityReceiver]

Keep us updated, please!

[@JL-ei7hy]

that city council better aint ruining it

[@Surfboarder4]

Really hope he finds this hard drive

[@iTroysGhost]

I'd leave the bit about making a 'crypto mecca' out of your presentation to the council tbh.

[@the_jarmel]

RICHARD HAMMOND 👏👏👏👏❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

[@wolfik555]

Garbage is sorted. Metal items are separated and destined for remelting / recycling. This HDD is not there because it does not exist anymore.

[@sidvanhound]

They said the AI would scan for something the size and shape of a HDD, they also said the drive was in a plastic bag .....

[@logimask6346]

I can imagine a guy just finding it on the ground

[@davidcouch6514]

The guy who sold 10K Bitcoin for two large delivered pizzas doesn’t regret his trade.

[@goodman1127]

it's quite similar but that guy could keep another 10k BTC for himself

[@markboz3366]

Always hope, check out the Atari ET cartridges. I know it was a bigger target, but it was a much bigger landfill and a lot more time between dumping and looking for them.

[@Slamagotchi]

It would be quite a story if he gets it back. This story goes deeper into the crux of our system though, the amount of years this guy has put into this and the expertise involved just to recover something that is in real world terms worth nothing is crazy. He mined some bitcoin 9 years ago for a week was it? Society and our economic system is built to prioritise this kind of value rather than real world use value that will actually benefit society.

[@YorkshirePork]

Great video

[@HannesNeuman]

that was the most british intro ever

[@pneron2032]

It's a pipe dream. The trash is crushed. And the rain would have destroyed it years ago anyway.

[@georgimihalkov4781]

Even if he finds the hard drive, there's no way that it's going to be preserved enough to extract the data.

[@Shady11112]

hard drives have survived far worse and still been recoverable

[@ethioshop360]

i feel sorry for him

[@Psyforged]

My biggest concern if I were the city council, would be that less than a month ago there was a crypto crash which dropped the value of that hard drive down by nearly $70M USD. How much do they estimate the total cost of this endeavor to be? How much of it is already promised to other parties? How far would crypto have to crash before his partners pull out and leave the city with a very expensive mess to put right.

[@ialrakis5173]

Yep, giving ppl bitcoin might sound nice but giving them real money would be more impressive.

[@clixium]

I've read in an article it would be 17million euro. 11 for excavation and 6 for sorting

[@gofanman8455]

The treasure of Sierra Madre

[@GasBunny]

I think that hard drive is probably gone. Completely shredded and recycled

[@Soapy555]

PLUS !... its in a black bag ! 🤣

[@inindian]

Yeah, had a chuckle at that ! Oh, it's in a black bag so it'll be fine ! LOL !

[@specialandroid1603]

If he threw it away then he gave up its ownership.

[@mired914]

You better be on site when it actually happens because you know that guy won't stop until it does.

[@metaguy_io]

Anyone know if there's a follow-up video?

[@markjones8249]

I really hope he finds it.

[@perry92964]

if he told the people who run the dump he wanted to go looking for it 8 years ago and they told him he cant, as soon as he left you know they went out looking for it and if they found it there not going to say.

[@PMJ4]

It's encrypted so very very difficult to unencrypt, even if they did it is linked to his account.

[@EazyDuz18]

Even if you began looking the day after it landed at the dump, the chances are next to impossible, especially back then without AI machinery. Now imagine a billion tons of trash on top of that, and the odds become laughable. He's wasting everyones time

[@perry92964]

@@EazyDuz18 or he never had all the bit coin and he made the whole thing up and he is trolling the uk. if i had 8000 bit coin on a hard drive you can bet i would hook it up and look at it before i tossed it......who throws away a hard drive any way? i have every single hard drive i ever had from now to back in the 90's

[@Okurka.]

Typical Apple user. I bet he still doesn't make backups.

[@ukiyo5283]

Welp, hope he gets it back

[@brandodurham]

The landfill is the only place crypto belongs. Well done lad

[@kev8343]

If only you knew, never mind

[@shannondore]

Keep us in The loop on this. Would love to know if he finds it and if the data can be retrieved.🤞🏻

[@antonymitchell3385]

So the answer to "What next" turns out to be trivial clickbait dross, I'd hoped for something more interesting.

[@MillhouseSpeaks]

Get richard and may to go on Beardmeatsfood podcast!

[@CaydeSmax]

why ?

[@phuketexplorer]

Bitcoin is going to totally valueless anyway, in a few more months! 🤣

[@SeptemberSeventeenth]

Someone doesn't understand it whatsoever...

[@markb5651]

he is worth over 400m now

[@ExpatScoti]

One of the first guys in and tossed the hard drive in 2013. Even if he tossed it I don't get why he is not pretty well off now. 2013 the price was at $10 approx which was a huge jump from the price when he started. What is the story on how he has not still done out pretty well on bitcoin living through the $10 to $60,000? Had he mined or purchased a small number of coins back after he tossed it he would still easily have made millions from a very small investment.

[@Dawg99999]

$500m now ..

[@jimwoday1776]

richards in his element here, cheers guys