Bitcoin as a global payment rail? For BlackRock, this is clearly not the core issue. For now, clients of the world’s largest asset manager mainly play the digital gold card, not the everyday currency one.
In brief
- •BlackRock today considers bitcoin mainly as a store of value, a ‘digital gold’, not as a global payment method.
- •The giant believes the scenario of bitcoin being massively used in payments remains speculative, while the technical and economic limits of scaling solutions maintain uncertainty.
- •Meanwhile, stablecoins are establishing themselves as the true payment rails, capturing most uses while bitcoin is treated as a long-term asset.
Bitcoin at BlackRock: First a Store of Value
Robbie Mitchnick, head of digital assets at BlackRock, says it straight: most clients do not view bitcoin through the prism of everyday payments. They do not really subscribe to the idea of a global payment network backed by BTC.
In their model, the massive use of bitcoin to pay for a coffee or settle bills on the other side of the world is an out-of-the-money option: a distant bonus scenario that does not justify investment decisions today. In other words, if bitcoin becomes a global payment rail, it will be an additional yield, not the central thesis.
This does not mean BlackRock is burying this possibility. Mitchnick talks about a more speculative scenario, not an impossibility. But for institutional clients, the narrative that now matters is simple: bitcoin as a store of value, a rare asset, uncorrelated with the traditional banking system. It is this story that attracts flows.
Current Limits of Bitcoin for Payments
If bitcoin really wants to exist as an international payment infrastructure, the work is heavy. Mitchnick admits it: many things still need to happen in terms of scaling, Lightning, and layer 2 solutions.
The technical promises are plenty, but the economic viability of some models remains unclear. Recent research has already questioned the ability of many rollup-type solutions to remain sustainable long-term, despite current enthusiasm. For an institutional investor, betting today on bitcoin as a complete payment rail equates to funding a still very uncertain future.
In this context, BlackRock adopts a cautious but clear stance: the investment case on bitcoin does not currently rely on payments. It rests on scarcity, portability, and the digital gold thesis. Payments remain an option, not the foundation.
Stablecoins: The Current Winners in the Payments Field
While the debate on BTC and payments drags on, another horse is pulling ahead: stablecoins. Mitchnick talks about immense success in payments. Here, product-market fit is already visible. Stablecoins answer a simple need: move value quickly, at reduced cost, while remaining pegged to a familiar unit of account, the dollar or other currencies. For corporate actors, fintechs, and platforms, the arbitrage is clear: why bear bitcoin’s volatility when a stablecoin handles value transfers without price shocks?
The momentum is strong enough to disrupt even the most bullish on bitcoin. Cathie Wood, at ARK Invest, explicitly downgraded her 2030 price scenario for bitcoin partly because stablecoins capture some of the role she imagined for BTC in payments. When a structural bitcoin optimist admits stablecoins scale faster than expected, the signal is clear: the payments field is playing elsewhere, at least in the short and medium term.
Bitcoin, Stablecoins, and the Battle of New Payment Rails
Should we conclude bitcoin has lost the payment battle? Not so fast. Mitchnick himself acknowledges BTC retains a credible card for remittance payments, especially to emerging markets. In these zones, the combination of capital controls, high banking fees, and weak infrastructure creates a space where bitcoin remains competitive, especially when supported by more user-friendly tools.
For the investor, the message is raw: if you buy bitcoin today, do not tell a story even BlackRock does not defend. The payment use case is a distant upside, not the base of the thesis. The rational strategy is to see bitcoin as insurance, a long-term asset, potentially complemented by targeted exposure to stablecoins which already capture growth on new payment rails.
In summary, BlackRock does not call into question the prospect of bitcoin widely used in international payments. The asset management giant has already positioned itself on BTC and ETH via Coinbase, but still confines this scenario to the rank of a speculative option, behind the current market reality where, for now, stablecoins capture most payment-related uses.