Bitcoins are like gold. They are precious and must be kept safe at all times. But, this man from Wales realized that too late.
James Howells, who made news after losing 8,000 bitcoins on a hard drive he discarded in a local landfill nine years ago, has a cunning plan to retrieve his cryptocurrency.
But first, let’s do a quick conversion: As of this writing, Bitcoin is trading at $21,088 (down nearly 6% in the last seven days). At 8,000 units, Howells could be $170 million richer — if he does get those bitcoins back.
The 36-year-old engineer may still have a shot at getting those discarded bitcoin back and it’s going to cost him a lot: $11 million. This is actually the figure he is planning to shell out for the grand retrieval operation.
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Can These Robot Dogs Find The Lost Bitcoins?
Now, in order to execute his plan, he’s going to enlist the services of two “animals” – robot dogs – that cost $75,000 each. Their mission: to excavate the landfill and sort through 110,000 pounds of rubbish.
(Nothing to worry there, really, because these canines don’t complain like humans do; the engineer will just want to make sure they have enough battery-power to do the job).
The reason why this dude needs two robodogs is that one of them will work while the other is charging.
His plan is backed by two venture capitalists, Karl Wendeborn and Hanspeter Jaberg, and would involver a number of engineers and experts to help dig up the precious crypto.
James Howells is looking for a needle in a haystack. Image: Arover
Will The Bitcoins Still Be Intact?
He believes that the retrieval will take approximately three years, but he also has a simplified technique that would cost $6 million and take 18 months. Howells said if the project pushes through, he would like to name the robodogs “Satoshi” and “Hal.”
If Howells locates the hard drive, there is a good likelihood that crypto recovery will be difficult, if not impossible, due to drive damage.
However, he has tapped the services of well-known data extraction team that includes a consultant who helped recover data from the Columbia space shuttle’s black box after it crashed. These men mean serious business.
“It’s a needle in a haystack, and it’s a very high-risk investment,” Jaberg was quoted as saying by Insider.
Here Come The Killer Robot Dogs
All the people who laughed off the “worrywarts” years ago for freaking out about the Funny Dancing Robot Dogs ™ should be forced to watch this video once a day for the remainder of the year. pic.twitter.com/WBIrlGah3w
— Sean Chiplock (@sonicmega) July 20, 2022
Meanwhile, in Russia, a machine gun attached to the back of a robotic dog has captivated the internet with its futuristic style straight out of a science fiction film.
It appears that the robot dog in this video is not manufactured by the same robotics company as the dancing robots created by Boston Dynamics a few years earlier. However, as foreseen by technology specialists, a similar robot canine is already being deployed as a lethal weapon.
Ghost Robotics and SWORD International have developed a similar deadly robot dog with a powerful gun (a 6.5mm Creedmoor automatic rifle).
SPUR (Special Purpose Unmanned Rifle), @Ghost_Robotics Q-UGV + @SWORDINT 6.5 CreedmoorCC @august_cole @MelanieRovery pic.twitter.com/S1D25xYwec
— Abraxas Spa (@AbraxasSpa) October 12, 2021
Known as SPUR (Special Purpose Unmanned Rifle), the mechanical piece of advanced tech made its public premiere at the annual US Army convention in Washington, DC. in October last year.
The killer robot can fire with deadly accuracy within 3,950 feet, according to reports.
Robot dogs, anyone?
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BTC total market cap at $403 billion on the daily chart | Source: TradingView.com
Featured image from Mikhail Rakhmatullin, chart from TradingView.com
