IT worker throws out hard drive, loses $7.5 million Bitcoin fortune

[EC]

Via NBC: http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/11/28/21654552-it-worker-throws-out-hard-drive-loses-75-million-bitcoin-fortune

LONDON -- An IT worker threw out a computer hard drive without realizing it contained $7.5 million worth of the digital currency Bitcoin.

The device is now buried somewhere in a vast landfill site near the home of owner James Howells -- who only realized his mistake when it was too late.

"It is soul destroying to be honest,” Howells told NBC News on Thursday. "I haven’t had much sleep over the past few days. Every second of the day I am thinking about what could have been."

Howells, whose ordeal was first reported by the Guardian, worked out the hard drive would have been taken to a local landfill site and visited the dump to speak to the manager.

But the hopelessness of his task became clear when he was was told that finding he disk would take weeks even with a team of a dozen people and backhoes.

"I had originally thought about raising money to hunt for the drive, but it was more an off-the-cuff idea. I know it’s gone," he said.

Howells posted an image of the landfill site on Twitter.

The hard drive is so valuable because it contains the key to 7,500 bitcoins, a currency which exists only in the digital world.

The currency was created in 2009 and has recently skyrocketed in value -- hitting $1,000 per unit on Wednesday -- having enjoyed a surge in interest by the media and financial sector.

Howells, from Newport, in South Wales, created his 7,500 bitcoins in 2009, when the new currency was only known in niche circles and of little value.

More at link.

Makes you think, doesn't it. Considering that a good 90% of all currency only exists on hard drives.

[Atomic Cow]

DOH!

[Cincinnatus]

This comment caught my attention: Considering that a good 90% of all currency only exists on hard drives.

This is what government spending and Federal Reserve policy has done to our "real" currency in just 15 short years.

[Fishrrman]

This is the culmination of absurdity:
That some digital traces of information on the surface of a hard drive could be worth $7.5 million. Or even seven dollars and fifty cents.

Brings to mind the Dire Straits song, "Money for nothing".
This is "Money made of nothing".

Lately, I'm considering buying a few bagfuls of 90% "junk silver" quarters, dimes and halves. Something tangible that has -- and will retain -- REAL "value", if and when the fiat currencies of The West collapse into dust….