The global head of equity strategy at Jefferies has removed Bitcoin from his model portfolio, citing the potential threat of quantum computing as his reasoning.
Why Market Strategist Cut 10% BTC Exposure
Christopher Wood, global head of equity strategy at Jefferies, has dropped a 10% allocation to Bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, from his model portfolio. In his latest “Greed & Fear” newsletter release, the market strategist highlighted the rise of quantum computing as the reason behind this move.
Wood highlighted his fears that the advances in quantum computing could threaten Bitcoin’s place and reputation as a dependable store of value, especially in the long term. As the expert said in his newsletter, the market is currently riddled with the fear that quantum computing could be just a few years away.
This growing concern borders on quantum computers being hypothesized to have the capacity to breach the Bitcoin network’s cryptographic technology. It is believed that these computers can enable attackers to reverse-engineer private keys from public ones, thereby tampering with the integrity of blockchain transactions.
Wood, who was an early institutional supporter of BTC, initially added the premier cryptocurrency to his model portfolio in December 2020 following the COVID-19 pandemic. By 2021, the Jefferies global head of equity strategy expanded this Bitcoin allocation to 10%.
However, the market expert appears to now be viewing the flagship cryptocurrency with a little bit of skepticism, as he believes that the Quantum threat is potentially existential, undermining its status as a store of value and “digital alternative to gold.” Hence, Wood refocused his model portfolio on older assets, splitting the 10% BTC allocation equally between physical gold and gold mining stocks.
While there is no clear timeline for when quantum computers will reach the market, Wood is not the only one who has recently expressed concerns about the Quantum threat. In the past week, Capriole Investments founder Charles Edwards has also discussed how Bitcoin has decoupled from global liquidity due to the quantum threat.
Edwards wrote on X:
The timeframe to a non-zero probability of a quantum machine breaking Bitcoin’s cryptography is now less than the estimated time it will take to upgrade Bitcoin. Money is repositioning to account for this risk accordingly.
Bitcoin Price At A Glance
As of this writing, the price of BTC stands at around $95,370, reflecting a 0.3% dip in the past 24 hours.
The price of BTC on the daily timeframe | Source: BTCUSDT chart on TradingView
Featured image from iStock, chart from TradingView
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