The Death of the Petrodollar: Nouriel Roubini Outlines Shift to AI-Backed ‘Technodollars’
Economist Nouriel Roubini has declared the “dying of the petrodollar” and backed a brand new tokenized reserve asset known as ‘Technodollar’ tied to US productive property, marking his first formal transfer into digital property after years as one of crypto’s most distinguished critics.
Speaking on the Expert Council podcast this week, Roubini mentioned stablecoins fail to protect traders from the identical inflation and debasement dangers that have an effect on conventional fiat currencies.
He argued that the subsequent reserve asset must be linked to know-how, synthetic intelligence, protection, semiconductors, and different elements of the US financial system.
The feedback got here as Atlas Capital Team launched USAFi, a tokenized reserve asset issued in Dubai underneath the Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority’s Asset-Referenced Virtual Asset framework.
Atlas says USAFi introduces a brand new class of regulated digital reserve infrastructure. The token is structured as a permissionless ERC-20 asset and is straight collateralized by the Atlas America Fund, an SEC-registered, actively managed ETF listed on Nasdaq underneath the ticker USAF.
The Illusion of On-Chain Safety
For years, crypto traders have handled dollar-pegged stablecoins equivalent to USDT and USDC as protected locations to park capital throughout market stress.
Roubini mentioned that view misses a bigger downside. Stablecoins might assist with funds, however they nonetheless observe a fiat forex that may lose buying energy throughout inflationary durations.
“Stablecoins are going to be helpful as a way of cost… but when the critique of cryptocurrency was the danger of debasement that comes from inflation, then one thing that isn’t curiosity bearing, like a stablecoin, only a digital greenback with zero rate of interest, is topic to the identical sort of a debasement danger as a fiat,” Roubini mentioned. “Stablecoins are a really imperfect method of offering this hedging. Highly imperfect is actually a digital model of the fiat forex with all the issues of fiat currencies.”
His argument is straightforward. A token that solely tracks the greenback doesn’t resolve the greenback’s weak point. It strikes that weak point onto the blockchain.
That issues extra in an financial system dealing with persistent inflation, geopolitical shocks, and climate-related dangers. In that atmosphere, Roubini argues that traders want publicity to property that may protect actual worth, quite than digital money that earns no yield.
From Petrodollars to Technodollars
Atlas framed USAFi round a bigger shift in the international reserve system.
In a whitepaper revealed alongside the launch, the agency mentioned the world has moved from the gold customary of 1944 to 1971, then to the energy-backed petrodollar from the Seventies onward. It now sees a brand new part constructed round what it calls the “technodollar.”
The thesis is that US economic power is more and more pushed by know-how quite than oil. Atlas says a reserve asset backed by AI-linked equities, semiconductors, protection know-how, cyber infrastructure, short-duration Treasuries, gold, and climate-resilient actual property provides a greater hedge for the trendy financial system.
USAFi’s collateral comes by way of the Atlas America Fund, which is custodied at BNY Mellon. Atlas says the fund makes use of machine studying to handle danger throughout its portfolio.
“The machines do the homework and the individuals on the funding committee, which Nouriel chairs, make the name,” mentioned Reza Bundy, Atlas Capital CEO and Chairman.
Bringing the Asset On-Chain
Atlas partnered with Securitize to carry the asset onto public blockchains. Securitize is the tokenization platform behind a number of institutional real-world asset merchandise, together with BlackRock’s tokenized fund infrastructure.
The objective is to make USAFi usable as on-chain collateral, quite than preserving it inside a closed institutional atmosphere.
“We assume that the tokenized model of it might truly be an excellent match as working as a reserve asset for DeFi collateral,” mentioned Carlos Domingo, founder and CEO of Securitize.
The launch additionally displays a broader shift in real-world asset tokenization. Tokenized Treasuries and cash market merchandise have already gained traction, however Atlas is pitching USAFi as a extra adaptive reserve asset for durations of inflation and macro stress.
For Roubini, the core level is that digital property can’t rely solely on fiat replicas. If traders need safety from debasement, he argues, the collateral itself should change.
USAFi is his first main take a look at of that concept.
The put up The Death of the Petrodollar: Nouriel Roubini Outlines Shift to AI-Backed ‘Technodollars’ appeared first on BeInCrypto.