The unluckiest man in the world is an IT guy for British newspaper The Guardian.

Years ago James Howells bought a bunch of bitcoins, and now those bitcoins are lost for eternity because they're buried in a landfill.

The Guardian's Alex Hern reports:

"You know when you put something in the bin, and in your head, say to yourself 'that's a bad idea'? I really did have that," Howells, who works in IT, told the Guardian. "I don't have an exact date, the only time period I can give – and I've been racking my own brains – is between 20 June and 10 August. Probably mid-July". At the time he obliviously threw them away, the 7,500 bitcoins on the hard-drive were worth around £500,000. Since then, the cryptocurrency's value has soared, passing $1,000 on Wednesday afternoon.

...

That lost hard drive, though, contains the cryptographic "private key" that is needed to be able to access and spend the bitcoins; without it, the "money" is lost forever.

Read more here.