Atlas Plans USAFi Launch With Nasdaq ETF Backing and VARA Approval

Nouriel Roubini Backs USAFi Token Launch After Years of Crypto Criticism

Nouriel Roubini, the economist lengthy identified for his sharp criticism of cryptocurrencies, is getting into digital belongings by way of Atlas Capital Crew’s deliberate launch of USAFi, a regulated token backed by real-world monetary belongings.

Atlas Capital Crew and its Dubai subsidiary, Atlas AI Labs, revealed a whitepaper co-authored by Roubini that outlines USAFi and a broader thesis the agency calls the “Technodollar.” The idea frames the following part of greenback dominance round synthetic intelligence (AI), digital infrastructure, and tokenized reserve belongings.

USAFi is scheduled to launch in Q3 2026 underneath Dubai’s Digital Property Regulatory Authority (VARA). Atlas mentioned the token will probably be issued underneath VARA’s Asset Referenced Digital Asset Rulebook.

ETF-Backed Token Targets Permissionless Finance

Atlas describes USAFi as the primary regulated permissionless safety. The product is designed as an ERC-20 token that may commerce on permissionless chains whereas being backed by the Atlas America Fund, an SEC-registered, actively managed ETF listed on Nasdaq.

The fund’s reserve belongings are custodied on the Financial institution of New York. Atlas mentioned the construction is meant to deliver institutional-grade collateral into decentralized finance whereas holding 24/7 portability and onchain entry.

Roubini mentioned his shift from criticism to participation displays the distinction between speculative tokens and belongings backed by diversified reserves. He commented:

VARA has developed a framework that embraces accountable innovation whereas sustaining the transparency and investor safety that institutional markets require.

Atlas Pitches the ‘Technodollar’

Atlas mentioned USAFi is constructed round reserves diversified throughout Treasuries, gold, meals, and strategic commodities, protection, cybersecurity, and industries being reshaped by AI.

Reza Bundy, Atlas Capital Crew’s chairman and CEO, mentioned the greenback has moved from the Gold Greenback to the Petrodollar and is now getting into a 3rd part. He described the Technodollar as a digital reserve backed by publicity to America’s best AI-linked industries fairly than a single commodity. Bundy mentioned:

Atlas is an agentic, digital reserve infrastructure: AI runs the portfolio day after day inside the guidelines our Funding Committee units, the Committee makes the selections, and we tokenize the instrument so it may be held and traded on chain.

For Atlas, USAFi is a wager that the following wave of tokenization won’t be constructed solely round stablecoins that transfer {dollars}, however round regulated digital belongings designed to protect buying energy.