James Howells, a Welshman, has given up his quest to recover 8,000 Bitcoin (approximately $923 million) accidentally thrown away in a landfill since 2013. His attempts to persuade the Newport City Council to allow excavation of the landfill—including legal battles and a £2.5 million offer—were unsuccessful. Frustrated, Howells is now pivoting to launch a Bitcoin layer-2 network called Ceiniog, which he claims will be backed by his lost Bitcoin. The network aims to serve as a cultural hub and hold an initial coin offering later this year, with a projected market cap that reflects the value of the buried assets. Howells believes his lost Bitcoin guarantees the value of the new token, maintaining that while he cannot access the funds, the tokens will represent them as a form of backing. By moving forward with this new plan, he hopes to symbolize resilience against a system he feels has repeatedly dismissed his efforts to reclaim his property, stating he aims to bring a crypto renaissance to Newport as an act of defiance against the local council.

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