Armstrong said Bitcoin has succeeded as a store of value rather than a medium of exchange, while dollar-backed stablecoins have become the main blockchain-based payment rail.
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said Bitcoin has fulfilled the store-of-value side of Satoshi Nakamoto’s vision but has not become everyday digital cash, arguing that stablecoins have instead emerged as the main medium of exchange on blockchains. In an interview with Zerodha co-founder Nikhil Kamath on the People by WTF podcast, Armstrong said Bitcoin had become "digital gold" rather than a payments network, citing its capped supply, user incentives to hold rather than spend, and volatility. He said efforts such as the Lightning Network did not meaningfully change that trajectory. Bitcoin was trading near $64,523, about 45% below its October 2025 peak of $126,080, while stablecoin supply was close to record highs. DefiLlama data cited in the discussion showed stablecoin supply near $310 billion, with Tether's USDT at $184 billion and Circle's USDC at $73 billion. Armstrong also pointed to the GENIUS Act, signed in July 2025, as helping make stablecoins legal and trusted in the U.S., with much of the activity now running on Base and Solana. Armstrong framed the shift not as a failure of Bitcoin but as a market outcome in which different crypto assets found distinct roles: Bitcoin as a store of value and fiat-backed stablecoins as transaction-focused instruments.