Billionaire investor Stanley Druckenmiller said stablecoins could eventually underpin much of the global payment system, even as he remains skeptical of cryptocurrency’s original premise.

Speaking during a word-association segment in a Morgan Stanley interview recorded Jan. 31 and released Thursday, the former Duquesne Capital founder said blockchain-based tokens could significantly improve financial infrastructure.

"Blockchain and the use of stablecoins — if you want to throw crypto into that — tokens, incredibly useful in terms of productivity," Druckenmiller said.

"I assume our whole payment systems will be stablecoins in 10 or 15 years — efficient, quicker, cheaper," he added.

His comments come as stablecoins continue gaining traction among policymakers and financial institutions. The stablecoin market cap itself has meanwhile climbed to an all-time high of nearly $300 billion according to The Block data, a more than 440% increase from the roughly $55 billion five years ago.

Some officials in Washington have also argued that stablecoins could reinforce the global role of the U.S. dollar. Patrick Witt, executive director of the President’s Council of Advisors for Digital Assets, said this week that GENIUS Act-compliant stablecoins could drive new deposits into the U.S. banking system by attracting global demand for dollar-denominated assets.

Crypto skeptic

Despite his optimism about payment rails, Druckenmiller remains unconvinced by crypto’s original use case as a store of value.

"Crypto? I said this a long time ago, and I’m going to say it again," he said. "It’s a solution looking for a problem."

Still, the veteran macro investor acknowledged the staying power of major cryptocurrencies, noting that digital assets such as bitcoin have evolved into a recognizable financial "brand" embraced by investors.