The Blockchain Insurance Revolution

Having obtained the bitcoins in 2009 for almost nothing, he threw the hard drive with the bitcoins in the bin in 2013 during a clear-out as he had completely forgotten about the bitcoins. The hard drive was put into a general waste bin at James’ local landfill site, after which it was buried on site. Despite the site being the size of a football field, James reported in December 2017 to hope to find his hard drive as the total value of his bitcoins now exceeded $140 m. Not an easy task as four years’ worth of garbage has been poured into the dump since, he realised and was quoted in national newspapers saying "digging up a modern landfill brings all sorts of environmental issues such as dangerous gasses and potential landfill fires. It is a big, expensive and risky project.” James wanted to try regardless and was hopeful that further bitcoin price increases would convince the local City Council to grant him permission to start digging.

By now we know that the value of bitcoin did not increase in the first quarter of 2018 as James was hoping for, and that bitcoin has become an even more controversial concept since. Nevertheless, the introductory anecdote, and in particular the idea of digging up a landfill the size of a football field to find a hard drive, does nicely illustrate the ‘bitcoin craziness’ that captured many. Arguably for some good reasons: the first digital currency without a central issuer, which - according to The Sun - could be used to buy everything from pizza to drugs and guns, was breaking price records on regular basis; it all could not have been more exciting.

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