Hedge Fund Pro Miller Is '50 Percent' Invested in Bitcoin

Investor Bill Miller said last week that his MVP1 hedge fund has half of its investments in bitcoin.

Miller, the chairman and chief investment officer at Miller Valued Partners, made the disclosure on Dec. 13 when speaking to WealthTrack podcast with Consuelo Mack.

"It's just about 50 percent right now," the legendary hedge fund manager was quoted as saying, who added that the fund also holds bitcoin cash. Miller's involvement in bitcoin dates back several years when he bought stakes in 2013 and 2014 (at a claimed average cost of $350 apiece).

In October this year, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal, bitcoin was said to have comprised one-third of Miller's hedge fund, meaning that the manager has only boosted the stake size since then. At first, according to Miller, just 5% of the fund had been allocated to bitcoin.

And as of October, the value of the MVP1 fund was pegged at $154 million, and Miller Value Partners reported having more than $2 billion in assets under management as of September.

In the podcast, Miller took aim at those who have criticized the cryptocurrency, including billionaire investor Warren Buffet – who Miller called "wrong" about bitcoin back in 2014 – and JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, who infamously declared bitcoin a "fraud" earlier this year.

According to Miller, neither of them had fully thought the topic through.

"I'm highly confident to say that not one of them had actually studied it carefully," he said during the podcast. "That is to say, they have strong opinions about something they haven't really looked at."

His comments come after weeks of escalating bitcoin prices, which at press time are trading at around $18,695, according to CoinDesk's Bitcoin Price Index (BPI).

At the same time, subtle changes could be coming next for Miller's bitcoin-heavy hedge fund. Miller suggested during the podcast that his firm is looking at ways to decrease the amount of cryptocurrency it holds without having to sell any of the holdings.

"I'd be fairly confident to say it won't be 50 percent of the fund for that much longer, which does not mean necessarily we are going to sell it," Miller explained, adding:

"We are working on how to handle it without selling it."

Image via WealthTrack/YouTube