Famed value investor and fund manager Bill Miller says he has “a lot” of bitcoin and has not sold any despite the recent crypto sell-off. He insisted that investors should put some of their liquid net worth in the cryptocurrency.
Bill Miller shares his Bitcoin outlook
Renowned value investor Bill Miller is still bullish on bitcoin despite recent price declines. He confirmed in a CNBC interview on Thursday that he owned “a lot” of bitcoin and hadn’t sold any.
Miller is the founder of Miller Value Partners and currently serves as its chairman and chief investment officer. He manages the firm’s Opportunity Equity and Income Strategy funds. Prior to Miller Value Partners, he co-founded Legg Mason Capital Management.
He explained that if bitcoin drops to half of its current price, he would not be surprised because of its volatility. However, “I would be gloomy because I own a lot,” the fund manager said.
Miller was asked, “Are you selling any [bitcoin], have you sold any?” He replied:
The short answer is no.
However, he clarified that he sometimes sells “stuff” to meet margin calls. “I’ve sold stuff to meet margin calls because I’m always on margin and the stuff that you sell is the stuff that is very, very liquid, for me anyway,” he explained, without mentioning BTC specifically.
As of this writing, bitcoin is trading at $30,064, up 1.5% in the last 24 hours but down 15.5% in the last seven days and nearly 25% lower in the last 30 days.
Commenting on investors losing money amid crypto sell-offs last week, Miller said: “If people have lost a lot of money in crypto, they have been speculating on the stuff they don’t know anything about, especially if they are surprised to have lost money because most of the ICOs [initial coin offerings] that came around in 2017 have gone to zero.”
There are currently nearly 20,000 cryptocurrencies, according to Coinmarketcap. Miller said, “All but Bitcoin, including Ethereum, have competition.” He noted that he doesn’t have the expertise to evaluate all crypto projects but is “comfortable with bitcoin.”
Miller was also asked if he thinks bitcoin is a buy at $29,000. He replied:
I haven’t heard a good argument about why you wouldn’t put 1% of your liquid net worth in bitcoin.
He added that this is especially true if you live in countries like Venezuela, Argentina, Lebanon, Turkey, Nigeria, Iraq, Ukraine and Russia. The famous investor noted: “Russia lost 50% of its reserves when the United States decided to sanction them. He said in March that it was “very bullish for bitcoin.” Miller previously referred to BTC as “financial disaster insurance.”
