New York-based economist and cryptocurrency skeptic Nouriel Roubini says he's working on developing a tokenized asset offering to act as a store of value — potentially replacing the US dollar's role in the global economy.

Rouibini, who is CEO of Roubini Macro Associates, is known for his bearish outlook on markets and on cryptocurrency in particular. Yet he told Bloomberg in an interview on Monday that he's working on a tokenized dollar with the Dubai-based company he co-founded, Atlas Capital Team.

The tokenized dollar replacement aims to take advantage of growing concerns over inflation as well as the dwindling dominance of the US currency globally. However, unlike a typical cryptocurrency, Roubini says that the coin would be backed by real assets. 

“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,” Roubini told Bloomberg. 

Set to be released later this year, the token will be backed by a mixture of short-term US Treasuries, gold and US property less affected by climate change. The final bundle of assets will be made up in the form of real estate investment trusts, more widely known as REITs.

Roubini and the Atlas Capital team told Bloomberg that most cryptocurrencies “are not even assets as they are not backed by anything – only vaporware – and don’t provide either income or use or other utility services; so they are purely speculative asset bubbles.” 

The product is being offered as a tokenized security to broaden its reach by taking advantage of the “digital rail” as they look to reach people without access to stable currencies. Roubini told Bloomberg that he sees an opportunity for a product to offer value to people who can’t gain exposure to the dollar and whose own local currency has fallen in value.