Crypto Critic Nouriel Roubini Backs USAFi Token for Nasdaq ETF

Roubini Backs USAFi After Years of Crypto Criticism

Roubini co-founded Atlas Capital Team and serves as its chief economist. The firm said Tuesday’s whitepaper is his first participation in digital assets, a notable shift for an economist whose public profile includes some of the industry’s harshest criticism.

His change is narrower than an endorsement of cryptocurrency as a category. Roubini’s stated case rests on attaching the token to a regulated investment fund holding real assets and public securities, with an investment committee retaining final allocation authority.

Atlas calls the concept a “Technodollar,” but USAFi does not promise to hold $1. The product disclosure says its net asset value floats, it may lose value and it should sit beneath transactional stablecoins as a reserve asset rather than replace them as a payment medium.

The underlying USAF ETF uses a multi-asset strategy intended to preserve purchasing power across different inflation and growth conditions. Its official materials list U.S. Treasuries, real estate investment trusts, gold and commodities among the exposures, while the new whitepaper adds an AI-assisted research and allocation layer.

That structure gives USAFi more in common with a tokenized fund share than with USDC or USDT. JPMorgan used a similar public-chain distribution idea for its tokenized money market fund on Ethereum, although the portfolios, investor rules and issuers are different.

Securitize Brings a Nasdaq ETF to ERC-20 Rails

Securitize said in an official post that it was chosen to power the tokenization behind USAFi. Neither Securitize nor Atlas has yet disclosed the public token contract, supported chains, issuance price, redemption timetable or detailed secondary-market arrangements.

The infrastructure provider is already pushing deeper into public markets. Daily Crypto Briefs recently covered Securitize’s proposed SECZ New York Stock Exchange listing, which would give investors a listed equity tied directly to a major tokenization platform.

USAFi adds a different distribution problem. The underlying ETF trades during Nasdaq market hours, while Atlas is promising 24-hour accessibility and portability for the tokenized expression. The companies have not explained how creations, redemptions and pricing will work when the blockchain market is open but the ETF and some portfolio assets are not.

That timing mismatch is central to tokenized securities. A blockchain can transfer ownership continuously, but the reference asset’s price, liquidity and settlement systems may still operate on fixed schedules.

Traditional exchanges are moving toward the same issue. The NYSE’s planned 24/7 tokenized securities platform would pair blockchain settlement with regulated trading, increasing pressure on issuers to define what happens outside the underlying market’s normal hours.

Dubai License Still Separates Plan From Launch

Atlas says USAFi will be issued in Dubai under the Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority’s asset-referenced virtual asset framework. The company is targeting the third quarter of 2026, but the token is not live and Atlas AI Labs does not yet hold a full issuance license.

The USAFi disclosure says Atlas has only in-principle approval and will issue the token after conversion to a full license. VARA’s asset-referenced token rules require issuers to disclose reserve composition, custody, valuation and redemption arrangements.

Access will also be restricted. Atlas says USAFi is intended for eligible non-U.S. persons who complete know-your-customer, anti-money-laundering and sanctions checks, and it will not be offered or marketed in the United States.

Those limits make the phrase “permissionless security” narrower than it first appears. The ERC-20 token may move on a public blockchain, but entry into the product and lawful ownership will still depend on identity, jurisdiction and transfer controls that Atlas has not fully detailed.

Crypto sentiment was weak as the announcement landed. The Fear and Greed Index stood at 23 on June 23, an Extreme Fear reading, while ether and other major assets extended their monthly declines.

The next checkpoints are Atlas’ full VARA issuance license, a published smart-contract address, supported blockchain networks, audited reserve and custody disclosures, and operational rules for minting and redeeming USAFi against the ETF.

Until those details arrive, Roubini’s participation is the confirmed headline, while a tradeable token remains a plan. The project’s credibility will depend less on the “Technodollar” label than on whether Atlas and Securitize can connect a regulated Nasdaq fund to continuous onchain markets without obscuring price, liquidity or investor eligibility.