So here’s a plot twist nobody saw coming: Christopher Wood, one of Wall Street’s biggest Bitcoin cheerleaders for the past five years, just rage-quit crypto. And no, it wasn’t because of another Elon Musk tweet or regulatory drama. This time, it’s because of computers that don’t even exist yet.
Wood, who runs strategy at Jefferies and has been riding the Bitcoin wave since way before it was cool, just dumped his entire crypto allocation (we’re talking 5-10% of his model portfolio) and swapped it for gold. His reason? Quantum computers might eventually crack Bitcoin’s security like it’s a middle school locker combination.
Here’s the deal: Bitcoin’s whole security thing relies on cryptography that’s basically impossible to break with today’s computers. We’re talking “would take trillions of years” impossible. But quantum computers – specifically these theoretical beasts called CRQCs (cryptographically relevant quantum computers) – could potentially turn that trillion-year problem into a weekend project.
Think of it like this: Bitcoin’s security is like having the world’s most complex puzzle protecting your money. Current computers would need longer than the universe has existed to solve it. But quantum computers? They’re like having a cheat code that makes the puzzle way easier.
Now, before you panic-sell your crypto portfolio, these quantum monsters don’t exist yet. But Wood’s looking at research suggesting they could potentially access up to 10 million Bitcoin tokens – that’s about half of all Bitcoin in circulation. Some crypto folks are already talking about “burning” vulnerable coins, which is basically the digital equivalent of setting money on fire to protect the rest.
Wood’s not just worried about the tech threat though. He thinks Bitcoin already hit its peak at $126,000 last year and won’t see those heights again in this cycle. So he’s basically saying “thanks for the memories” and moving his money to humanity’s oldest store of value: shiny rocks.
His new portfolio is now 45% physical gold, 25% gold mining stocks, and 30% Asian equities. It’s like he went from betting on the future to hedging against it.
The timing is interesting too. Bitcoin’s been having a rough time lately, falling into bear market territory while gold has been absolutely crushing it – posting its best performance since 1979. It’s like the tortoise and hare story, except the hare might get hacked by quantum computers.
Look, quantum computing threats to Bitcoin aren’t exactly breaking news in crypto circles, but when a major Wall Street strategist dumps his holdings over it, people pay attention. Whether Wood’s being overly cautious or brilliantly prescient remains to be seen. But one thing’s for sure: the intersection of cutting-edge physics and digital money is about to get very interesting.
The moral of the story? Sometimes the biggest threat to your digital gold isn’t market volatility or government regulation – it’s the computers of tomorrow making today’s security look like a joke.