Roubini Unveils Tokenization Plans for Atlas America Fund Under Dubai Regulatory Framework

Economist Nouriel Roubini co-authored a whitepaper for USAFi, a planned tokenized investment product being developed by Atlas Capital Team, with Securitize selected to provide the tokenization infrastructure and a Q3 2026 launch targeted under Dubai's virtual asset regulatory framework. The announcement, reported by CoinDesk on June 23, 2026, positions USAFi as a blockchain-based representation of an existing Nasdaq-listed ETF rather than a new fund structure.

USAFi is the tokenized version of the Atlas America Fund (USAF), an ETF overseen by Roubini and listed on Nasdaq. The underlying ETF launched on November 20, 2024, as a joint venture between Roubini and Atlas Capital Team Inc., led by CEO and founder Reza Bundy. The fund combines U.S. Treasury bonds, gold, REITs, and food commodities — an asset mix designed to provide diversified, resilient exposure across different economic environments while preserving capital. The November 2024 launch marked Roubini's first entry into the $13 trillion global ETF market.

The whitepaper introduces the concept of "Technodollars" — described as AI-driven, asset-backed digital reserve instruments intended as an alternative to fiat-pegged stablecoins. Where conventional stablecoins maintain a one-to-one peg to a single currency, the Technodollar framework as described in the whitepaper ties value to a basket of real assets including Treasuries, real estate, gold, and agricultural commodities, with AI-driven mechanisms intended to manage reserve composition. The distinction is structural: the backing is multi-asset and inflation-sensitive rather than dollar-denominated cash or short-duration paper alone.

Atlas Capital Team plans to launch USAFi in Q3 2026 under the Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority, the Dubai body established under Law No. 4 of 2022 to regulate and oversee the provision, use, and exchange of virtual assets in and from the emirate. VARA published its Virtual Assets and Related Activities Regulations on February 7, 2023, providing the rulebook framework under which products such as USAFi would be classified and authorised. The token is expected to be structured as an Asset-Referenced Virtual Asset under that framework.

Securitize, whose CEO is Carlos Domingo, was selected to provide the tokenization infrastructure for the project. Securitize Holdings, Inc., headquartered in Miami, Florida, filed a Form S-4/A with the Securities and Exchange Commission on May 7, 2026, in connection with a planned SPAC merger with Cantor Equity Partners II. The firm has built a substantial position in institutional tokenization, with its infrastructure underpinning several large-scale tokenized fund products already in the market.

The announcement arrives as the broader tokenized asset market — excluding stablecoins — stood above $30 billion according to rwa.xyz data cited by CoinDesk in its June 23, 2026 reporting. That figure reflects cumulative on-chain issuance across asset classes and does not represent assets under management in any single product or jurisdiction. The rwa.xyz aggregation does not carry a specific data-pull date in the CoinDesk citation, a relevant caveat given how rapidly on-chain issuance totals shift in this sector.

Roubini's involvement carries notable context: he has been one of the most prominent public critics of cryptocurrency, having previously described Bitcoin in terms that left little ambiguity about his skepticism toward the asset class. His co-authorship of the USAFi whitepaper does not constitute an endorsement of speculative crypto assets; the project is explicitly structured around regulated, real-asset-backed instruments and routed through a licensed regulatory framework rather than permissionless infrastructure.

What the June 2026 announcement establishes is a whitepaper, a named tokenization infrastructure provider, a target regulatory jurisdiction, and a planned launch window. It does not establish an issued token, a confirmed VARA authorisation, a disclosed fee schedule, a live subscription mechanism, or a stated assets-under-management target for the tokenized product. The Atlas America Fund's existing ETF structure and Nasdaq listing are confirmed facts; whether USAFi achieves VARA classification as an Asset-Referenced Virtual Asset within Q3 2026 remains subject to the authority's review process, which has not been publicly confirmed as initiated or completed.