Jefferies Abandons Bitcoin for Gold; Cites ‘Existential’ Quantum Threat
Jefferies’ Christopher Wood dumps his 10% Bitcoin allocation for Gold, citing quantum computing risks as the crypto asset slides 6.5% YTD.
Institutional Exodus Begins?
Christopher Wood, global head of equity strategy at Jefferies, has eliminated the firm’s 10% Bitcoin allocation from its long-running “Greed & Fear” model portfolio. The capital was immediately reallocated: 5% to physical gold and 5% to mining equities. The catalyst? A fear that quantum computing is advancing fast enough to shatter Bitcoin’s cryptographic shield sooner than the market has priced in.
The market reaction was visceral. Bitcoin has decoupled from safe havens, sliding 6.5% YTD in 2026. In stark contrast, Gold surged, highlighting a flight to analog safety.
The 1,500 Qubit Wake-Up Call
Wood’s capitulation isn’t based on price action, but on structural risk. His note cites a Chaincode Labs study estimating that 20% to 50% of circulating Bitcoin, roughly 4 to 10 million BTC, resides in legacy addresses (P2PK) vulnerable to quantum key extraction. These “zombie coins,” many untouched since the Satoshi era, could theoretically be harvested by a sufficiently powerful quantum machine.
The timeline is shrinking. As of late 2025, quantum hardware has crossed the 1,500 physical qubit threshold. While roughly 1,000 physical qubits are needed to forge a single stable logical qubit, the trajectory has spooked risk committees. Chainalysis warned in November that a cryptographically relevant machine could emerge within 10 to 15 years, a blink of an eye for pension funds managing multi-decade liabilities.
While Greed & Fear does not believe that the quantum issue is about to hit the Bitcoin price dramatically in the near term, the store-of-value concept is clearly on [a] less solid foundation from the standpoint of a long-term pension portfolio. Christopher Wood
Signal vs. Noise
The technical community remains skeptical of the panic. Blockstream CEO Adam Back dismissed the immediate threat, arguing that a “cryptographically relevant” attack vector is likely 20 to 40 years away. He noted that the network has ample runway to implement quantum-resistant soft forks well before Q-Day arrives.
Yet for institutional allocators, perception is reality. Wood’s exit signals that the “digital gold” narrative is facing its first true stress test against a tangible technological predator. If other macro strategists follow Jefferies’ lead, the liquidity drain from institutional vaults could accelerate, regardless of the actual state of qubit error correction.
