Bill Miller’s Opportunity Trust Files for GBTC Investment; Up to 15% of its $2.25 Billion Assets

Miller Value Funds, the fund run by veteran investor Bill Miller has filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Friday disclosed that the firm’s Opportunity Trust fund may invest in Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (BTC).

The document, dated Feb. 5, 2021, which is subject to completion and extensively talks about Bitcoin, states that the Fund will not make any additional investments in the GBTC if, as a result of the investment,

“its aggregate investment in bitcoin exposure would be more than 15% of its assets at the time of investment.”

The Opportunity Trust fund had $2.25 billion in AUM as of Dec. 31st, 2020.

Bitcoin is described as a digital commodity that is not issued by a government, bank, or central organization with no physical existence beyond the record of transactions on the Blockchain, in the document.

According to the Fund’s SEC filing, currently, there is relatively little use of bitcoin in the retail and commercial marketplace compared to its relatively large use by speculators, resulting in volatility.

Besides this volatility, the risk to Funds investment is the immutability of the Bitcoin blockchain. Additionally, the lock-up period of GBTC increases the illiquid investment risk of the Fund.

As for the tax-related risks, the filing notes that many significant aspects of the US federal income in regards to Bitcoin are “uncertain.” GBTC, particularly, is treated as a grantor trust for US federal income tax purposes.

Covering the regulating part, the filing says Bitcoin is not subject to the same degree of regulation as US securities only to add, “countries, including the U.S., may in the future curtail or outlaw the acquisition, use or sale of bitcoin.”