Billionaire investor Stanley Druckenmiller said stablecoins could underpin global payment systems within the next decade or two, while reiterating his long-standing skepticism toward much of the broader cryptocurrency market.
“I assume all of our payment systems will be stablecoins in 10 or 15 years,” he said in an interview Morgan Stanley published Thursday. Fiat-pegged tokens are “efficient, faster and cheaper” than traditional payment infrastructure, he said. “Blockchain and the use of stablecoins are incredibly useful in terms of productivity.”
Stablecoins such as Tether’s USDT and Circle Internet’s USDC (CRCL) are cryptocurrencies designed to maintain a fixed value, often pegged to a fiat currency, most commonly the US dollar, and are widely used in digital asset markets for transactions, payments and transfers.
Drukenmiller’s views align with recent statements from Australian investment bank Macquarie, which said tokens are already reshaping payments and banking. He noted that they are evolving from a niche crypto trading tool to a potential layer of global financial infrastructure.
Regarding other coins, however, the veteran investor repeated a criticism he has made for years about the crypto sector in general.
“I said it a long time ago and I’m going to repeat it: it is a solution that seeks a problem.”
The staying power of Bitcoin
Despite his skepticism toward much of the cryptocurrency ecosystem, Druckenmiller previously acknowledged that bitcoin has established itself as a store of value.
“I’m actually disappointed that it ended up becoming a store of value because it wasn’t originally necessary for that,” Druckenmiller said in the interview with Morgan Stanley. “But it has become a brand and people love it. So it will probably be a store of value.”
Druckenmiller questioned how long the US dollar will retain its status as the world’s reserve currency. It is not a new position. In 2021, he said that the dollar was losing its reputation on a global scale and, at the time, suggested that cryptocurrencies could replace it.
“We are doing everything we can to destroy it. But I am 72 years old, it will probably outlive me.”
“I doubt it will be the reserve currency in 50 years, but I have no idea what it would be. Maybe some cryptocurrency that I hate.”
