A senior Wall Street strategist has issued a stark warning for Bitcoin investors, flagging quantum computing as a potential long-term threat to the world’s largest cryptocurrency.
📉 Christopher Wood, Global Head of Equity Strategy at Jefferies, has removed Bitcoin from his firm’s long-term model portfolio—where it previously held a 5–10% allocation for nearly five years. His concern goes beyond price cycles and points to what he calls an “existential risk” to Bitcoin’s cryptographic security.
🔐 Why Quantum Computing Matters for Bitcoin
Bitcoin relies on advanced cryptography, where public keys secure transactions and private keys control ownership. With today’s computers, cracking a private key would take trillions of years.
However, Wood highlights the future risk posed by Cryptographically Relevant Quantum Computers (CRQCs)—machines that could potentially reduce this time to hours or days, fundamentally undermining Bitcoin’s security model.
📊 A study cited by Wood suggests that up to 10 million BTC—nearly 50% of total supply—could be vulnerable if CRQCs become operational.
🧠 Market Impact & Portfolio Shift
While CRQCs do not yet exist, discussion around the risk is growing within the crypto community. Some have even floated the idea of burning “vulnerable” coins to protect the network.
Wood believes the threat may not impact Bitcoin prices immediately, but it weakens Bitcoin’s long-term “store of value” narrative, especially for conservative portfolios like pensions.
💬 He also noted that Bitcoin likely peaked at $126,000 in the post-halving rally last year and has since struggled amid weak liquidity and broader risk-off sentiment.
🥇 Gold Replaces Bitcoin
In response, Jefferies has reallocated Bitcoin exposure into gold, raising gold and gold-mining assets to a combined 70% of the portfolio, alongside Asian equities (ex-Japan).
✨ Wood argues that quantum risks are long-term bullish for gold, calling it a “historically stress-tested store of value” and one of the strongest hedges against geopolitical and systemic uncertainty.
🔎 Bottom Line:
As quantum computing advances, Bitcoin’s technological foundation may face challenges never seen before—prompting institutions to rethink long-term crypto exposure and revisit traditional safe havens like gold.
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