'Dr. Doom' Nouriel Roubini has said crypto is 'totally corrupt.' Now he's launching his own token.

• "Dr. Doom" Nouriel Roubini is launching a crypto token after years of bashing the crypto industry.
• The token will be pegged to investments Roubini has touted in the past, including gold and other commodities.
• Roubini has been a vocal crypto critic, previously calling the industry "totally corrupt."

"Dr. Doom" Nouriel Roubini spent years bashing crypto. Now, his asset management firm is creating its own crypto token.

Roubini's Atlas Capital is launching the Atlas Climate Token, a blockchain-based stablecoin that will be pegged to "a carefully chosen portfolio of liquid real world assets," the company said in a statement on October 31. 

They include climate-resilient real estate investment trusts, inflation-hedged government bonds, gold, and other commodities.

Those investments are in line with what Roubini has touted previously as the famously gloomy economist has warned of a series of disasters.

In the past year, he's sounded the alarm on spiraling debt and a financial crisis that will slam the US with runaway inflation. That will be complicated by wars, rampant disease, and climate change. He's recommended investors should pile into assets that hedge against those risks.

Atlas claimed the investments underpinning its stablecoin have a winning track history. Its portfolio has posted gains in 48 out of the past 51 years, with an average return of 8.2%, the firm said in a statement.

Atlas added that its portfolio would have would have quadrupled returns over the past three decades while the US dollar's value has more than halved after adjusting for inflation. The firm is also planning to launch an exchange-traded fund in the first quarter of 2024.

Issuing a cryptocurrency is a stark turnaround for Roubini, who has previously called crypto "totally corrupt" and the "biggest criminal heist in human history." 

Earlier this year, he warned of a "crypto apocalypse" coming for the industry, thanks to regulators cracking down on misconduct in the space.

Roubini is known for his persistently bearish takes on the economy and markets. He was one of the first economists who predicted the 2008 subprime mortgage crisis. And he's warned of some form of disaster for the US economy for most of the past two decades. That's led to criticism from other experts, some of whom have referred to Roubini as a "permabear."

Atlas Capital did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.