Nouriel Roubini

In 2026, Roubini co-authored the white paper for USAFi, an ERC-20 token presented by Atlas as a regulated digital security backed by the USAF ETF, following years of extremely harsh criticism of cryptocurrencies and blockchain. The contrast was portrayed as a dramatic change of stance.

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Following his spectacular success ahead of the 2008 crisis, Roubini continued regularly warning of double-dip recessions, debt crises, stagflation and major market crashes. His 'Dr Doom' reputation was subsequently criticised as a tendency to overpredict catastrophic scenarios. In 2025, his shift towards a scenario in which US growth could reach approximately 4 % by 2030 was itself presented as a notable reversal.

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Roubini and Atlas Capital launched the Atlas America Fund ETF (USAF), designed to protect investors against inflation, geopolitical instability, climate risks and other 'megathreats' central to his public work. The launch attracted attention because the economist long nicknamed 'Dr Doom' was directly turning his risk assessment into a financial product.

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In late 2022, Roubini warned that a severe US recession was likely and that such a scenario could cause shares to fall by approximately another 25 %, against a backdrop of inflation, debt and monetary tightening. The forecast fuelled criticism of his structurally pessimistic bias when the US economy subsequently proved more resilient than this extreme scenario.

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A few days after FTX's collapse, Roubini stated in Abu Dhabi that the cryptocurrency ecosystem was 'totally corrupt', described Binance founder Changpeng Zhao as a 'walking time bomb' and called on the United Arab Emirates authorities to expel him. Zhao responded publicly by dismissing Roubini as an insignificant person.

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Before the Senate Banking Committee in October 2018, Roubini described cryptocurrencies as the 'mother of all scams and bubbles' and blockchain as one of the most overrated technologies, often less efficient in his view than a conventional database. The Coin Center representative invited to the same hearing defended decentralised architectures and their uses.

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During a presentation at the IMF in September 2006, Nouriel Roubini predicted that a collapse in the US housing market would lead to mortgage defaults, a banking crisis and a severe recession. His scenario was met with scepticism and jokes before the global financial crisis vindicated much of his warnings.

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After Gawker published mocking details about his parties and New York apartment, Roubini responded to its founder Nick Denton with a lengthy tirade on Facebook, notably accusing him of being antisemitic, a 'Nazi' and McCarthyist, and also referring to his sexual orientation. The conflict amplified precisely the media attention Roubini had sought to combat.

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Personally implicated