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Craig Anderson, Senior Lecturer in Statistics, University of Glasgow

Man wants to search dump for lost hard drive with bitcoin fortune – here are his odds of finding it

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James Howells is considering buying a council dump in south Wales after his former partner accidentally threw away a hard drive containing his bitcoin wallet. Howells has already lost a high court case to allow him to search the tip for the hard drive, which he believes contains bitcoin worth £600 million.

But would it even be possible to find it? Let’s do the maths.

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