Bill Miller Says Regulatory Pressure May Be Boosting Bitcoin

One of the biggest concerns shared about Bitcoin is that it is subject to intense regulatory risk. The oft-mentioned criticism is that if governments wanted to, they could prevent exchanges from selling bitcoin or from allowing individuals to withdraw bitcoin to their own addresses.

Bill Miller, a Wall Street value investor, does not see this as a critical concern.

He said in an interview with CNBC on Friday that it's hard for regulators to "cut the head off the snake because it's decentralized."  

"If the U.S. government wanted to put onerous regulations in, users that want bitcoin would just use overseas exchanges," he added.

Touching on the proposed Treasury regulations, Miller speculated that bitcoin rallying in the face of this news may just be validation that those that hold it see it as "more valuable." Bitcoin is trying to prevent its holders from "what is happening in Venezuela, Argentina, where the government wipes you out or takes your money." 

Miller's latest comments to CNBC come shortly after he published an investor letter noting that bitcoin might be "rat poison" but caveated that by stating that the rat in this scenario "could be cash." 

Miller is one of many Wall Street investors that have recently begun to tout bitcoin as a viable investment. He is joined by investors such as Paul Tudor Jones, Stanley Druckenmiller, and Rick Rieder.