According to BlackRock, institutional investors primarily view Bitcoin as digital gold, while its use for payments remains only potential.
Bitcoin as digital gold continues to dominate the narrative for institutional investors, leaving ambitions of using it as a global payment system in the background. This perspective was shared by Robbie Mitchnick, Head of Digital Assets at BlackRock, in an interview on November 20, where he outlined the priorities of major asset managers.
Mitchnick explained that clients of top asset management firms are not betting on Bitcoin as a future payment infrastructure. “I think for us, and most of our clients today, they’re not really underwriting to that global payment network case,” the BlackRock executive said.
He did not categorically rule out that Bitcoin could eventually be used for payments, but described this narrative as “a bit more speculative” compared to its role as a store of value.
The executive emphasized that significant technological progress would be needed before such a shift could happen: “There’s a lot that needs to happen in terms of Bitcoin scaling, Lightning, and otherwise to make that possible,” he explained.
However, Mitchnick acknowledged that digital assets are already transforming the value transfer sector through stablecoins.
“Stablecoins do have massive product market fit as a payment instrument as a way of moving value around efficiently,” he said.
According to the BlackRock executive, stablecoins are set to expand well beyond trading and DeFi, reaching retail remittances, cross-border corporate flows, and even capital market settlement. Mitchnick added that Bitcoin could find use in retail remittances, but reiterated that even this scenario remains speculative for now.
