Christopher Wood, global head of equity strategy at Jefferies, has removed bitcoin from the firm's model portfolio, citing its likely peak price and threats from quantum computing. He replaced the allocation with gold investments, viewing the metal as a more secure store of value. This move comes as bitcoin enters a bear market following a strong 2025 rally.
Christopher Wood, a prominent bitcoin advocate and global head of equity strategy at Jefferies, has eliminated the cryptocurrency from his firm's long-term model portfolio. For the past five years, bitcoin had comprised 5% to 10% of the allocation, but Wood now believes it has reached its post-halving peak at $126,000 last year.
The decision stems from two main concerns: the cryptocurrency's price trajectory and an emerging technological risk. Bitcoin has slid into a bear market since late 2025, driven by broader market risk aversion, reduced liquidity, and worries over the yen-carry trade. More critically, Wood highlights quantum computing as an existential threat to bitcoin's security.
He specifically references cryptographically relevant quantum computers (CRQCs), advanced systems that could crack bitcoin's encryption. Currently, deriving a private key from a public one would take supercomputers trillions of years. However, CRQCs might accomplish this in mere hours or days, potentially allowing unauthorized access to bitcoin holdings. A ChainCode Labs report estimates that up to 10 million tokens—about 50% of bitcoin's supply—could be vulnerable.
Within the crypto community, discussions are underway about burning vulnerable coins to mitigate risks, though Wood notes this issue may not immediately impact prices. "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 less solid foundation from the standpoint of a long-term pension portfolio," Wood wrote in a client note.
In bitcoin's place, the portfolio now includes a 10% allocation to gold and gold mining stocks, bringing total gold exposure to 45%, with 25% in mining and 30% in Asian equities excluding Japan. Wood argues this shift favors gold, which had its best year since 1979 in 2025 and remains near record highs amid geopolitical tensions and inflation. "Meanwhile, the existential issue raised by quantum as regards Bitcoin can only be long-term positive for gold since it remains the historically stress tested store of value," he added.
