Almost 10 years ago, James Howells, while cleaning his apartment, threw away a hard drive on which he stored Bitcoin.

Today, when the value of his bitcoin is 184 million euros, Howells plans to offer millions to whoever finds his hard drive in a landfill in Newport, a city in south Wales, writes BBC.

If he finds his hard drive, the Welshman has pledged to donate 10 percent of the money to a cryptocurrency development startup.

In 2013, James Howells, an IT engineer, accidentally dropped a hard drive on which he had "mined" 8.000 bitcoins, a cryptocurrency that was in its early stages of development at the time.

The value of this currency is constantly changing, so in January 2021 the lost bitcoins of this Welshman were worth more than 250 million euros, but the value decreased in early 2022.

The city of Newport, which also owns the landfill where the hard drive was dumped, has repeatedly refused Howells' request to search the dump.

Officials cited the danger that digging through the trash could affect the environment.

Because of this, Howells promised to invest 10 percent of the money, if true, in various cryptocurrency development projects.

Searching through the landfill will require digging through thousands of tons of stacked trash that has been dumped there for decades.

However, James Howells believes that he will be able to finance the mining in an efficient and environmentally friendly way.

"The money is ready, I have provided an artificial intelligence specialist who can find the hard drive, and there are environmental experts.

"We have an entire team working together on this high-risk task," Howells says.

However, searching for a hard drive is only part of the task.

Until it is found, it is uncertain whether it even works.

If it works and the data can be accessed with bitcoins, Howells will be "bathed in money", but it also depends on the value of this cryptocurrency.

The 37-year-old gave up some of the money and pledged to fund projects in Newport that promote the use and understanding of cryptocurrencies.

"We have a whole list of incentives, good plans that we would like to do for the community," he says.

"On that list is our plan to clean up the landfill and put up windmills to power a public space where the people of Newport can 'mine' bitcoin," says James Howells.

Among the Welshman's other plans is a proposal to donate 61 million euros worth of bitcoins to every store owner who allows payment in cryptocurrencies.

Newport city officials say they have responded to Howells' request several times.

"We have legal obligations that we must respect when managing the landfill," says the city.

"Part of that is about managing the environmental risk to the site and the wider area, and Howells' proposals are a danger and we are really prevented from considering them and giving permission to dig," a city council spokesman said.