Bitcoin requires miners to assist in decryption and authentication to maintain the operation of the blockchain, so mining has become a way for many people to get rich, but the engineer in the UK does not need mining machines or GPUs for mining, but strange hands, stackers and robot dogs. Because what he digs is not a network mine, but a treasure buried deep in the garbage dump: a hard drive with 8,000 bitcoins in it.
British software engineer Howell (James Howells) is not well-known himself, but he is very famous for what he has done. In 2013, he threw a laptop hard drive into the trash can, and then realized that there were as many as 8,000 Bitcoins in it, and today the market value is as high as 180 million US dollars.
Most of the early bitcoin players participated in mining out of experimental nature. Howell dug up these bitcoins in 2009 and stored them in a hard disk cold wallet. Obviously, this is the safest way to avoid exchange failures or hacker attacks. Waiting for the risk, but can not avoid their carelessness.
The reason he would throw it away is simple, because he has two identical 2.5″ hard drives, and he accidentally made a mistake when he was about to retire one. plan to retrieve this hard drive (the bitcoins in it).
Using all Technology to find the crypto wallet
Howell’s hard drive, if there is no accident, should be sent to the Newport (Newport) landfill in Wales, England. Weir estimates that it may take 110,000 metric tons of trash to be successful.
As a software engineer, Howell believes that it is not an impossible task if the method is properly designed.
He recruited a professional team, including AI engineers, senior landfill employees, waste removal managers, and the most important data rescue expert. This master figure had decrypted the Columbia spacecraft black box and was responsible for saving the spacecraft. (not yet found) hard disk.
But even a master may not guarantee success. The success or failure of data rescue of traditional hard disks is not judged by the appearance, but by the condition of the platter.
Assuming the hard disk is not damaged, Howell estimates that there is an 80% to 90% chance of recovering all the data. But if the disc is damaged, the chances of data recovery are very slim.
Before discussing how to retrieve the data, Howell had to figure out how to find the hard drive. The first step, of course, is to excavate through an excavator, and the garbage will be transported to a machine next to the landfill, and with the aid of computer vision, the conveyor belt garbage will be inspected for something similar to a hard drive.
If the target is found, the robotic arm will immediately clip the item out, ready for manual inspection.
In order to reduce the impact on the environment, the whole set of equipment will also classify resources, gradually filter out recyclable items, maximize the value of 110,000 metric tons of waste, and finally bury the worthless parts in place.
Robot Dog Overwatch
Although this task is to find a needle in a haystack, Howell is also worried that the hard disk will be secretly taken away by the workers, so he set up a 24-hour CCTV monitor to ensure that there are no insiders.
However, the monitor has dead spots, so Howell also prepared two robot dogs, the “Spot” of Boston Dynamics, equipped with wireless transmission and high-definition cameras, which act as mobile monitors day and night to ensure safety.
In case of seeing an object similar to a hard disk, it will be reported immediately for manual inspection.
Howell estimates that the mining task may take more than 18 months, and the entire project will be operated in a fully commercialized specification, with an expected cost of up to 11 million euros. According to him, two German and Swiss companies have already obtained The venture capital firm promised to fund him.
If the excavation is really successful, let him get back the bitcoin, the investment company will get 30% of the remuneration, Howell will get 30%, and the rest will be converted into euros to give back to Newport residents, about 150,000 people, each can Get 50 euros back.
This feedback is very necessary. Since the Newport City Council initially rejected his idea, Howell hopes to apply for the council’s excavation permission again after producing a complete plan with the assistance of a professional team.
If he continues to run into a wall, he may have to rally local residents to protest against the parliament for “illegal seizure” of personal assets.
Of course, he doesn’t want to go this far, but for the 8,000 bitcoins, the treasure of nearly 200 million US dollars, Howell can really “go for it”.
This huge real-physical mining task is expected to be submitted to the city council again in August. If he successfully passes the level, he will be able to start a treasure hunt in the garbage dump. Historical events, and the best script for the next Netflix documentary.
