Jefferies’ Wood Ditches Bitcoin, Warning Quantum Computing Could Break It
Christopher Wood, international head of fairness technique at Jefferies, has eliminated Bitcoin from his mannequin portfolio after 4 years, citing mounting fears that quantum computing might undermine the cryptocurrency’s cryptographic safety.
According to Bloomberg, Wood eradicated a ten% Bitcoin allocation and changed it with equal elements bodily gold and gold-mining shares, warning that advances in quantum know-how threaten Bitcoin’s viability as a long-term retailer of worth.
The strategist’s exit displays rising mainstream concern over quantum threats, with Wood stating in his “Greed & Fear” publication that the Bitcoin neighborhood more and more believes quantum computing “might solely be just a few years away slightly than a decade or extra.“
He warned that any breach of Bitcoin’s cryptographic basis “is doubtlessly existential because it undermines the idea of Bitcoin as a retailer of worth and due to this fact as a digital various to gold.“
Quantum Threat Splits Bitcoin Community
The debate over quantum danger has intensified sharply in latest months, dividing distinguished figures throughout the cryptocurrency ecosystem.
Nic Carter, a accomplice at Castle Island Ventures, accused influential Bitcoin builders of being “in denial” about quantum computing threats, citing a whole bunch of hundreds of thousands of {dollars} in capital flowing into quantum computing improvement and U.S. authorities plans to deprecate classical cryptography by 2030.
Blockstream CEO Adam Back pushed back against Carter’s warnings, arguing that builders are quietly making ready quantum defenses with out creating market panic.
“You make uninformed noise and attempt to transfer the market or one thing. You’re not serving to,” Back wrote in a December publish criticizing Carter’s public statements.
@Blockstream CEO @adam3us has publicly pushed again in opposition to claims that Bitcoin faces an imminent menace from quantum computing.#Bitcoin #Quantumhttps://t.co/8Xsi3zt95n
— Cryptonews.com (@cryptonews) December 20, 2025
Despite the disagreement, Carter maintained his issues are justified, noting that “corporations are elevating $100s of m to construct QCs that may crack ECC” whereas “bitcoins mere existence is accelerating QC improvement.“
Solana co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko added urgency to the dialogue on the All-In Summit 2025, warning there’s a 50% likelihood of a quantum breakthrough inside 5 years.
“Bitcoin ought to migrate to quantum-resistant signature schemes as AI acceleration makes the timeline from analysis to implementation astounding,” Yakovenko said.
One-Third of Bitcoin Supply Potentially Vulnerable
Security researchers estimate that roughly 30% of Bitcoin’s circulating provide is topic to quantum publicity beneath sure circumstances.
David Duong, Global Head of Investment Research at Coinbase, calculated that roughly 6.51 million BTC sits in deal with sorts extra susceptible to long-range quantum assaults, together with legacy Pay-to-Public-Key outputs and a few Taproot constructions the place public keys are already seen on-chain.
In an interview with Cryptonews final 12 months, David Carvalho, CEO of Naoris Protocol and a former moral hacker, warned that “any Bitcoin in misplaced wallets, together with Satoshi (if not alive), can be hacked and put again in circulation” as soon as sufficiently highly effective quantum computer systems emerge.
Carvalho described “Q-Day” as arriving inside three to 5 years, cautioning that “about 30% of all of the BTC in circulation is sitting in addresses that include public keys straight. The second a strong quantum rig is operating, these cash are honest sport.“
Major establishments have begun acknowledging the menace, with BlackRock flagging quantum dangers in its iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF prospectus and Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino warning about publicity to inactive wallets.
@Tether_to CEO @paoloardoino has warned that quantum computing might finally pose a menace to inactive Bitcoin wallets.#Bitcoin #Quantumhttps://t.co/u8DCYrTjYw
— Cryptonews.com (@cryptonews) February 9, 2025
While Ardoino reassured that “quantum computing remains to be very removed from any significant danger of breaking Bitcoin cryptography,” he acknowledged that lively pockets holders might want to migrate funds to quantum-resistant addresses as soon as such protections develop into accessible.
Price Resilience Tested Amid Growing Technical Concerns
Bitcoin continues buying and selling close to $97,000 regardless of debates over quantum safety, supported by renewed ETF inflows and broader macro optimism.
Speaking with Cryptonews, Timot Lamarre, Director of Market Research at Bitcoin monetary providers agency Unchained, which secures over $10 billion in BTC, believes ETF holder conduct will sign whether or not the rally sustains beneath rising technical scrutiny.
“The market worth to realized worth (MVRV) for bitcoin ETF holders has held sturdy above 1.0. Falling under 1.0 might scare off some traders,” Lamarre said.
He famous ETF holders demonstrated resilience all through 2024 regardless of prolonged durations of adverse returns, including that “it’s anticipated that charges will seemingly have to return down, benefitting bitcoin, given the truth that $9+ Trillion price of debt from the pandemic period is rolling over in 2026 and the curiosity expense paid is projected to be over $1T as effectively.“
Wood’s shift again to gold after abandoning Bitcoin displays his conviction that debates over quantum computing create circumstances favoring conventional valuable metals as “a traditionally examined hedge in an more and more unsure geopolitical world.“
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