British man James Howells denies giving up on finding lost 8,000 BTC

 earlier this week, there were multiple posts on social media claiming that IT engineer James Howells from Newport, UK has officially ended the search for his lost 8000 BTC. James Howells privately messaged The Block on social platform X saying, "No, I have not 'given up'. Some parts of the story circulating are true, but not as they describe it." Howells explained that on July 1st, he made a formal offer to the leadership of Newport City Council, legal team, and a councilor to purchase and excavate the Newport landfill site, valued between $33 million and $40 million. According to Howells, despite the substantial offer amount, there has been no response or confirmation of receipt from Newport. So the situation is, if they don't sell, there's no need to buy the landfill, I'm no longer seeking to purchase the landfill, no longer progressing with excavation or restoration work, and no longer engaging with the council or its representatives. Howells stated that he has only "shifted" strategy, but has not given up on recovering the lost bitcoins, as he is still the rightful owner of these 8,000 BTC, citing a High Court ruling from January as the basis. The council may have the hard drive, but they do not have the digital content on it - these 8,000 bitcoins legally belong to me, and anyone in the world can verify their balance at any time. Howells mentioned that he now plans to tokenize his legal ownership of the lost 8,000 BTC, issuing a Bitcoin Layer 2 smart token called Ceiniog Coin (INI), using the upcoming network upgrade to remove the 80-byte limit on OP_RETURN opcode in Bitcoin transactions, thus releasing more functional space.