Bill Miller's personal portfolio had a banner year thanks to his bitcoin craze, but his fund struggled

Published Thu, Jan 13 20222:00 PM EST

Bill Miller's craze for bitcoin continued to make his personal wealth swell, but his flagship mutual fund completely missed the mark last year as his new stock picks flopped. Bitcoin now represents 50% of Miller's personal assets after buying the dip in the cryptocurrency around $30,000, the longtime investor revealed in a video interview with WealthTrack published Friday. He started buying bitcoin around $200 to $300 years ago, and now the digital coin trades around $43,000 and hit an all-time high last year above $68,000. The crypto bull said he's also been adding to bitcoin-related stocks in his personal portfolio, such as newly public bitcoin miner Stronghold Digital and software company MicroStrategy , which rallied 40% in 2021. However, Miller didn't have much success last year with the Miller Opportunity Trust (LMNOX) he co-manages. The fund lost more than 3% in 2021, versus a near 28% gain for the S & P 500 . "Specifically within consumer discretionary stocks, that's where it had the most trouble," Morningstar associate director of equity strategies Christopher Franz said. "They are contrarian, so they are going to buy things that are out of favor. We've described his style as very bold at times." Two of the biggest new picks in 2021 — Chinese e-commerce company JD.com and data-analytics software maker Splunk — suffered double-digit losses last year. Meanwhile, the fund didn't own some of the biggest winners last year, including Apple and Tesla . Miller Opportunity Trust only attracted about $130 million in new client flows over the past year, and it has seen about $7 million in outflows year to date, according to FactSet. The fund has about $2.2 billion in assets under management. Miller made his name by running a big value fund for decades. He once managed the Legg Mason Capital Management Value Trust, which beat the S & P 500 for 15 straight years from 1991 to 2005. However, the fund suffered massive losses during the financial crisis, which dented Miller's track record and led to a huge client exodus. The investor previously revealed that he has joined the billionaire club thanks to his enormous bets on Amazon and bitcoin. Still, he maintained a conservative stance when it comes to adding bitcoin in his mutual fund. In February, the Miller Opportunity Trust filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission to allow investments in the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust. The Grayscale trust is one of very few ways to get exposure to bitcoin without buying the digital token directly. The Miller fund sought to have up to 15% of its assets exposed to the cryptocurrency trust, according to the filing. As of the end of September, the fund only owns less than 0.4% of the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust, according to a regulatory filing.

Bill Miller.

Heidi Gutman | CNBC

Bill Miller's craze for bitcoin continued to make his personal wealth swell, but his flagship mutual fund completely missed the mark last year as his new stock picks flopped.