White House antitrust advisor owns over $1 million in Bitcoin: Report

White House antitrust advisor Tim Wu owns between $1 million and $5 million worth of Bitcoin, and between $100,001 and $250,000 in Filecoin.

Top White House technology and competition policy advisor Tim Wu is a Bitcoin millionaire, US news website Politico reported.

Wu owns between $1 million and $5 million worth of Bitcoin, and between $100,001 and $250,000 in Filecoin, the report said citing his personal financial disclosure.

Wu's investment in Bitcoin is the largest holding in his financial portfolio, the report said.

Moneycontrol could not independently verify the story.

Wu declined to comment when contacted by Politico.

"Tim is recused from any particular matters involving bitcoin or cryptocurrency generally because of his financial interest, and has not worked on any such matters," a White House Official told the website.

Wu, a law professor at Columbia University and a critic of Big Tech, joined the Biden administration as an antitrust expert at the National Economic Council.

He coined the term "net neutrality" and had also served in the Obama administration.

In an op-ed he wrote for The New York Times in 2017, Wu said bitcoin is in a bubble. He said its popularity signals a shift in trust from humans and governments to technology.

"Odds are that Bitcoin may never function well as a general medium of exchange (something you can buy things with) because of its wild fluctuations, but might work fine as a store of value that you can sell," he said in the op-ed.

Wu currently has an overall net worth of between nearly $4 million and $11.5 million, Politico reported. His investment in Bitcoin comprises between 25 and 43 percent of his assets.

Most of the rest of his money is in Vanguard mutual funds, the report said.

The price of Bitcoin has seen high volatility recently. The cryptocurrency is currently trading at over $32,000, according to coinmarketcap.com.