Nouriel Roubini, the famously anti-cryptocurrency economist, has begun working on a token that will be a more durable dollar, in his opinion.
Roubini and his Atlas Capital Team LP team acknowledge that the dollar’s standing as the world’s reserve currency may be jeopardized if the US issues too much money and adversaries begin de-dollarizing, echoing broad inflation fears.
Atlas Capital, which Roubini co-founded and hired as chief economist two years ago, will collaborate on technology for the ‘United Sovereign Governance Gold Optimized Dollar’ with Andreessen Horowitz-backed Web3 developer Mysten Labs. Atlas co-founder and CEO Reza Bundy told local media,
“Our goal is to create a global store of value. This is something akin to a substitute for Treasuries, or a digital asset that has payment features in it.”
The tokenized dollar replacement attempts to capitalize on rising inflation fears as well as the US currency’s waning worldwide supremacy. Unlike a typical cryptocurrency, however, Roubini claims that the coin will be backed by real assets. The cryptocurrency critic is interested in bringing a stable asset into more hands around the world, in addition to building an inflation-proof greenback. In a recent interview, Roubini said,
“We recognized that America’s dollar reserve currency could be at risk and are working to create a new instrument that’s effectively a more resilient dollar.”
The token, which will be launched later this year, will be backed by a mix of short-term US Treasury bonds, gold, and US real estate that is less influenced by climate change. Real estate investment trusts, or REITs, will make up the ultimate package of assets.
Roubini’s cryptocurrency plot twist
Roubini has spent years publicly criticising Bitcoin, Ethereum, and blockchain technology, calling it “no better than a spreadsheet.” This is an unexpected and abrupt shift in his position.
During a hearing before the US Senate Banking Committee in 2018, the economist went so far as to offer a 37-page speech expounding on his anti-crypto views. He wrote an essay the same year saying that CBDCs would destroy cryptocurrencies because they are “neither scalable, affordable, secure, or really decentralised,” according to him.