Prøve GULL - Gratis
UK Man's 12-Year Quest to Recover $900m Bitcoins Ends
The Citizen
|August 08, 2025
Many will have heard the story of Laszlo Hanyecz, the computer programmer from Florida in the US, who famously paid 10,000 bitcoin (BTC) for two Papa John's pizzas back in 2010.
In today's terms, those two pizzas cost $1.14 billion.
We've also heard of others who mined dozens or even hundreds of BTC in the early days and sold out when the price doubled to $12. Today, BTC trades at around $114,000 (about R2.1 million).
This latest story of lost BTC is a bit of a head scratcher. British IT engineer James Howells accidentally threw away his hard drive containing 8,000 bitcoin, now worth more than $900 million, 12 years ago.
He had been mining BTC for several years, back when thousands of people around the world were doing the same on their personal computers and it was worth just a few cents.
He tried for years to recover his hard drive from his local Newport landfill site, but to no avail.
Denne historien er fra August 08, 2025-utgaven av The Citizen.
Abonner på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av kuraterte premiumhistorier og over 9000 magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
FLERE HISTORIER FRA The Citizen
The Citizen
England ‘need to be better’
Jude Bellingham (above) said England had achieved their immediate objective after sealing top spot in their World Cup group, but warned there was still significant room for improvement ahead of the knockout stage.
1 min
June 30, 2026
The Citizen
SA biting hand that fed it
MANDELA TAX: COUNTRY OWES HUGE DEBT OF GRATITUDE TO NIGERIA, SAYS ANGRY AUTHOR
2 mins
June 30, 2026
The Citizen
Binder's woes keep adding up
Red Bull KTM’s Brad Binder (above) finished the Dutch MotoGP in a solid ninth place on Sunday, only to be demoted to 11th after a tyre pressure infringement.
1 min
June 30, 2026
The Citizen
SIU cracks down on education officials with lifestyle audits
The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) has officially begun conducting lifestyle audits of senior officials and employees working in high-risk procurement and human resources positions in the department of basic education (DBE).
2 mins
June 30, 2026
The Citizen
Prosus says profit doubles
JUMP: BETS ON E-COMMERCE PAYS OFF
1 mins
June 30, 2026
The Citizen
MANIE IS THE MAN
BOKS: RASSIE WANTS HIS FLYHALF TO EXPLOIT ENGLAND
2 mins
June 30, 2026
The Citizen
Mr Price pauses third market plans to focus on SA, NKD
Mr Price Group CEO Mark Blair says a plan to enter a third geographical territory, after Europe, is off the table for the next “couple of years’ as it focuses all its attention on South Africa and the NKD business in Europe, which it acquired for R3.6 billion in March.
2 mins
June 30, 2026
The Citizen
Dis-Chem dynasty dynamics
SUCCESSION LEGACY: WILL THE PHARMACY EMPIRE RETAIN ITS ENTREPRENEURIAL EDGE?
3 mins
June 30, 2026
The Citizen
Anarchy can be Cyril's death-knell
Today is going to be a watershed test of how much control our government actually has over this country.
1 mins
June 30, 2026
The Citizen
Sinner survives first round scare
Reigning champion Jannik Sinner twice fought back from a set down to battle past Serbia’s Miomir Kecmanovic and avoid a huge shock in the Wimbledon first round yesterday.
1 min
June 30, 2026
Listen
Translate
Change font size