Economist Nouriel Roubini, the cryptoskeptic known as “Dr. Doom,” is developing a tokenized asset to become a more sustainable U.S. dollar. “Our goal is to create a global store of value … It’s something akin to replacing Treasury bonds or a digital asset that has payment functions.”
Nouriel Roubini’s Tokenized Alternative to the Dollar
This week, economist Nouriel Roubini said he is developing a set of financial products, including a tokenized asset called the United Sovereign Governance Gold Optimized Dollar (USG), to be a more sustainable dollar against high inflation, climate change and civil unrest, Bloomberg reported.
Roubini is a longtime cryptocurrency skeptic who has called bitcoin “the mother of all bubbles.” He teaches at New York University’s Stern School of Business and has his own consulting company, Roubini Macro Associates. Known for predicting the collapse of the housing bubble in 2007-2008, his dire predictions earned him the nickname “Dr. Doom” in the media.
Dr. Doom works with the Dubai-based Atlas Capital Team, a real estate investment and management company, to create new products. He joined this company two years ago and is currently its chief economist.
Roubini explained that the dollar could be in jeopardy as the U.S. “prints too much money and opponents begin to de-dollarize.” He detailed:
We recognize that the U.S. reserve currency the dollar may be in jeopardy, and we are working to create a new instrument that is actually a more sustainable dollar.”
His plan came as a surprise to the crypto community, as he has been one of bitcoin’s most vocal critics for years.
On Monday, Roubini also detailed his plan on Twitter. “The digital rail will have ultra-strict AML/KYC features, so it will be a digitally asset-backed security with serious ESG [Environmental, Social, and Governance] features – i.e., sustainable real estate. So the digital option is just one of three, and that’s the end point, not the starting point,” he wrote on Twitter.
The economist went on to detail:
First, USG is beginning to be used as a hedge against inflation, fiat currency depreciation, financial crisis, political and geopolitical risks, and environmental risks. This is the basic idea, not its digital rail.
He added: “Second, the implementation of USG is first an index on which a TRS [total return swap] can be written, then a fund or ETF [exchange-traded fund]. And finally, finally, a security token backed not by vaporization like most junk in cryptocurrencies, but by real/financial assets, so you’ll always know its market value/NAV.”
The new dollar will be backed by “a mix of short-term U.S. Treasuries, gold and U.S. property (in the form of real estate investment trusts, or REITs),” the economist noted, adding that they are likely to be less affected by climate change.
According to Atlas co-founder and CEO Reza Bundy:
Our goal is to create a global store of value… It’s something akin to replacing treasury bonds or a digital asset that has payment functions.”
Roubini expects that his new product will appeal to large investors looking for an alternative to the usual mix of stocks and bonds. He noted that sovereign wealth funds, pension funds, and even central banks, which hold large stocks of dollar-denominated assets, may show interest.
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