James Howells claimed his former girlfriend in 2013 mistakenly threw out a hard drive filled with 8000 Bitcoins.

After he unsuccessfully attempted to sue Newport County Council in the UK High Court last year to gain access to the site, or get £495 million compensation, he has now expressed interest in purchasing the tip, the BBC reports.

The council is planning to close the landfill site by mid-next year to make way for a solar farm on the land.

Howells said: “The council planning on closing the landfill so soon is quite a surprise, especially since it claimed at the High Court that closing the landfill to allow me to search would have a huge detrimental impact on the people of Newport, whilst at the same time they were planning to close the landfill anyway.”

Attempting to find a single object taken there more than a decade ago would seem like a mammoth task, given there are 1.4 million tonnes of waste there.

Howells thinks the hard drive is in an area of 100,000 tonnes.

“I would be potentially interested in purchasing the landfill site,” he said.

Howells said he had discussed the move with investment partners and it is “very much on the table”.

He also wants to appeal against the judge’s decision to dismiss his case against the council.

Cryptocurrency has been around for a while now.

But, chances are, you’ve heard about it more and more over the last few years.

In basic terms, cryptocurrency is digital money.

This kind of currency is designed to work through an online network without a central authority — meaning it’s typically not backed by any government or banking institution — and transactions get recorded with technology called a blockchain.

Bitcoin is the largest and oldest cryptocurrency, although other assets like Ethereum, Tether and Dogecoin have also gained popularity over the years.

Some investors see cryptocurrency as a “digital alternative” to traditional money, but the large majority of daily financial transactions are still conducted using fiat currencies such as the dollar.

Also, Bitcoin can be very volatile, with its price reliant on larger market conditions.

– With Associated Press