Key takeaways
- Chairman of Miller Value Partners Bill Miller restates that he is bullish on Bitcoin and prefers it to gold.
- Bitcoin continues to pull in strong hands from the traditional market
- The race to unseat gold remains in view, Bitcoin has been declared successful
Bill Miller, the chairman of Miller Value Partners and an investor that achieved legendary status by recovering from the 2008 financial crisis with investments in Bitcoin and Amazon, has doubled down on his bullish stance on Bitcoin and his preference for it over gold. For the 71-year-old, Bitcoin is like a Ferrari while gold is like a horse-drawn carriage.
Miller, who was the former chairman and chief investment officer of investment management firm Legg Mason, made the comparison during a virtual interview as part of the Forbes/SHOOK Top Advisor Summit while speaking with Morgan Stanley Private Wealth Management managing director Marvin McIntyre.
According to the Forbes report, Miller was responding to a question about his take on the sentiments of JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon and some of the headwinds facing the largest cryptocurrency including a crackdown in China and an uncertain regulatory future in the U.S. He also revealed that he first invested in Bitcoin when it was around $200. His subsequent investment since then has seen the cost per coin in his holdings rise to about $800 after he made his last major Bitcoin buy at around a value of $30,000.
During the interview, Miller who is considered a value investor revealed his other investment picks apart from Bitcoin to include Tupperware Brands, Vroom, Teva Pharmaceuticals, and General Motors GM. Miller was one of the early adopters of Bitcoin as he first embraced it back in 2014. Notably, in 2019, he described Bitcoin as “turbo-charged gold,” implying that he prefers Bitcoin to gold.
The Bitcoin versus gold discourse has gained a lot of momentum especially in 2021, as many notable investors have chimed in. For the most part, key players seem to be choosing Bitcoin over gold if recent revelations are to go by.
Most recently, the star of Shark Tank, a popular entrepreneurship TV show, Kevin O’Leary reveals that cryptocurrencies now had a bigger share in his investment portfolio than gold in a tweet. During an interview with Stansberry Research’s Daniela Cambone, he added that he is a strong believer in cryptocurrencies and planned to increase his exposure to the asset class to 7% by the end of the year.
Similarly, billionaire venture capitalist Chamath Palihapitiya recently recommended Bitcoin as the ultimate inflation hedge, saying he thinks Bitcoin has “effectively replaced gold” and will continue to do so in that role while speaking on CNBC.
Their confidence may be stemming from the stellar performance Bitcoin has put on recently. The pioneer cryptocurrency is currently 58% up year to date while gold’s return on investment is down 8% in the same time frame.