In a recent interview, legendary American value investor William H. Miller III shared his thoughts on Bitcoin.

Miller is the Founder, Chairman, and Chief Investment Officer of investment firm Miller Value Partners, as well as the portfolio manager of firm’s mutual funds “Opportunity Equity” and “Income Strategy”.

Before starting Miller Value Partners, Bill Miller and Ernie Kiehne founded Legg Mason Capital Management, and they worked as portfolio managers of the Legg Mason Capital Management Value Trust from its inception in 1982.

While being interviewed by William Green on episode RWH007 of “We Study Billionaires“, which is “the flagship podcast of The Investor’s Podcast Network”, Miller supported Bitcoin as a valuable digital tool, including for those caught in areas of conflict and with limited access to financial products. 

Miller argued that Bitcoin could have helped those affected by the United States withdrawing troops from Afghanistan. 

As reported by Cointelegraph, he said, 

When the U.S. pulled out of Afghanistan, Western Union stopped sending remittances there or taking them from Afghanistan, but if you had Bitcoin, you were fine. Your Bitcoin is there. You can send it to anybody in the world if you have a phone. 

Miller was careful to add that Bitcoin’s value as insurance is not an “all or nothing” situation, noting that $BTC played a significant role in the early months of the pandemic, despite the Fed’s monetary policies. 

He continued, 

When the Fed stepped in and started gunning the money supply and bailing out, in essence, the mortgage rates […] Bitcoin functioned fine. There was no run on Bitcoin. The system functioned without the Fed and without any interference. Everybody got their Bitcoin, the price adjusted, and then when the Bitcoiners realized, ‘Wait, we’re going to have inflation down the road,’ Bitcoin went through the roof. 

Miller explained that he looks at Bitcoin as an “insurance policy.” He also rebuked comments made by fellow billionaire Warren Buffett, who criticized Bitcoin for not producing anything. Miller argued that the objective of investing is to make money, rather than owning productive assets. 

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Disclaimer

The views and opinions expressed by the author, or any people mentioned in this article, are for informational purposes only, and they do not constitute financial, investment, or other advice. Investing in or trading cryptoassets comes with a risk of financial loss.

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