The Secret History of Bitcoin: I thought I just lost a few hundred, but I regretted it

Source: Hash Pie

Author: LucyCheng

How much is an ordinary computer hard drive? Probably just lost it and not too distressed price. But a hard disk with 7,500 bitcoins is different. When the price of BTC reaches its peak, the value is more than 100 million US dollars.

Now the hard drive, which used to be worth hundreds of millions of dollars, should still be lying in a dust dump; its owner is still annoyed by his original intentions. James Howells, an IT engineer from Newport, England, is the protagonist who passed by the billionaire; he has been involved in mining since 2009 and has accumulated 7,500 bitcoins in four years of running bitcoin nodes .

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In order to store these bitcoins well at the time, when James later sold his computer parts on eBay, he also specifically kept the hard disk with the wallet file alone, in order to sell it after appreciation. But what fate makes people feel is that in a year-end cleaning in 2013, he missed the hard drive and dumped it as trash. When the price of Bitcoin soared in 2017 and James remembered these BTCs again, he discovered that the hard drive with huge assets was missing.

James Howells who lost 7500 BTC (Image source: Network)

Unwilling, James even wanted to initiate a plan to dig up the city's burial site, trying to find the hard drive that he couldn't relieve. But this is not a simple project. "Excavating a modern landfill is a complicated project. During excavation, it will bring various environmental problems, such as dangerous gas leakage or potential fire risk." In general, This is a huge, expensive and high-risk project.

Unexpectedly, the Newport City Council did not agree to James ’application; but even if it was agreed, finding a hard drive in a garbage dump buried for three years was like finding a needle in a haystack, and coexisting with toxic waste for a long time and under heavy pressure It may have broken down long ago. Perhaps to make up for the regrets in his heart, James later joined the field of cryptocurrency; not only supported the development of Bitcoin cash, but also led a device development team, hoping to vigorously promote the implementation of cryptocurrency payment.

Screenshot from: Reddit

But before in "How many bitcoins are sucked by" black holes "? In the Secret History of Bitcoin, we mentioned that the experience of losing Bitcoins for various strange reasons is endless; not only James, Campbell Simpson, Gizmodo website editor, Reddit netizen Rengade, Bitcointalk user Stone Man, etc. One of the unlucky eggs. However, Rengade is not as optimistic as James. After losing bitcoin, he posted a post on Reddit called "Bitcoin ruined my life" to express his depressed mood.

"I never expected to be a millionaire, and I didn't want to … But damn, the 20 Euros I spent in 2010 actually affected my life so much. From that day (the discovery of Bitcoin Lost), I have regrets and regrets every minute of my life. I could have used that money to change myself and help my family and friends. Now I ca n’t sleep at night, just like I lost my life goal Help … but none of this can help. "It is worth mentioning that this is a post published by Rengade in 2014; if he finds that the price of Bitcoin has risen later, he may be more worried.

There are many netizens comforting Rengade below this post, trying to help him forget the pain, "Do you think, if Bitcoin is now zero, will this affect your current life? Overcome it, work hard, and slowly recover, Anyway, most people do this, "anonymous netizens commented. That being said is true, but it seems difficult to persuade yourself to let go without thinking about empathy and such a considerable asset.

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