Billionaire Bill Miller advocates for Bitcoin, but doubtful on altcoins

Bill Miller, a seasoned Wall Street investor and founder of Miller Value Partners, advocated for the rise of Bitcoin (BTC) during a recent conversation with author William Green, but voiced skepticism around many of the altcoins birthed during 2017.

Miller subscribes to the well-documented thesis that Bitcoin portrays digital gold, and unlike many of his financial contemporaries — Warren Buffet being the most prominent — he has been a keen investor in the digital asset space.

Back in early 2016, Miller dedicated 30% of his portfolio to the leading crypto asset Bitcoin at an average value of $500, and has more recently motioned a filing with the SEC for The Miller Opportunity Trust to invest in BTC via the institutional-grade $2.25 billion Grayscale Bitcoin Trust.

During the interview, Miller correlated his first acquisition of Bitcoin to the current risk proposition witnessed today, all the while donning a Bitcoin baseball cap:

“Bitcoin is a lot less risky at $43,000 than it was at $300. It’s now established, huge amounts of venture-capital money have gone into it, and all the big banks are getting involved.”

Miller also shared his perspective on the potential of altcoins, insinuating that few projects of the thousands on the marketplace will survive the market’s tumultuous volatility over the coming years:

“There are 10,000 various tokens and stuff floating out there. The chances of more than a handful of them being worthwhile is very, very small. Bitcoin, ethereum, and a few others are probably going to be around for a while.”

Related: Clean-water nonprofit launches celebrity-funded Bitcoin Water Trust

Discussing the burgeoning influence of crypto exchange Coinbase, Miller advised investors to not be cautious over one to two years fluctuations of the Nasdaq-listed stock COIN, as in his qualified opinion, the asset offers a “default position for growth investors.”

In addition, he drew comparisons between the market capitalization of electric-car giant Tesla and Coinbase, suggesting that the exchange could reach and even surpass the former's valuation, which stands at approximately $790 billion due to its position in a “rapidly growing, changing industry.”