Veteran Investor Bill Miller Says Every Major Investment Bank Will Own Bitcoin or Something Like It

Mutual fund legend Bill Miller told CNBC Friday that the risks of bitcoin going to zero are “lower than they’ve ever been before” and predicted more institutional investment in the cryptocurrency.

“The bitcoin story is very easy, it’s supply and demand,” Miller said. “Bitcoin’s supply is growing around 2.5% a year and the demand is growing faster than that.”

When he was managing the Legg Mason Capital Management Value Trust Fund, Miller beat the S&P 500 for 15 years. He’s now the chief investment officer of Miller Value Partners. In December 2017, Miller revealed that his MVP1 hedge fund had half of its investments in bitcoin. 

On Friday, Miller warned of inflation “coming back” with the Federal Reserve “gunning the money supply” and future fiscal relief coming from Congress. 

Following MicroStrategy’s purchase of $425 million in bitcoin, Square’s $50 million bitcoin investment and PayPal’s support of crypto buying and selling on its platform, Miller said every major investment bank and high net worth firm will eventually have exposure to bitcoin or commodities like gold. He added that bitcoin has performed well over the past three-, five- and 10-year periods. 

Miller, who serves on the investment committee for the endowment of Baltimore-based Johns Hopkins University, said that the endowment’s chief investment officer told him that “everybody is going to want to own at least some bitcoin” because of its “asymmetric properties.” 

“[The endowment] may never own bitcoin,” Miller said. Yet, “for a college endowment that’s a bold statement,” he added.