When one of Wall Street’s most respected financial strategists removes Bitcoin from his recommended portfolio citing quantum computing threats, it’s time for the cryptocurrency industry to stop hitting the snooze button.
The Jefferies Bombshell
Christopher Wood, Global Head of Equity Strategy at Jefferies, has made a dramatic move: eliminating the 10% Bitcoin allocation from his recommended portfolio, replacing it with gold. His reasoning? The advancing threat of quantum computing to cryptocurrency’s cryptographic foundations.
Wood, who first added Bitcoin to his portfolio in December 2020 and grew the position to 10% in 2021, isn’t some crypto skeptic looking for reasons to exit. He’s a seasoned strategist who has watched quantum computing progress from theoretical concern to imminent threat.
The “It Won’t Happen for Years” Fallacy
Some in the crypto community dismiss quantum concerns by pointing out that current quantum computers aren’t yet powerful enough to break encryption. They argue that progress is “slow and public” and that developers will have “ample warning.”
This misses the point entirely.
The threat isn’t just about when quantum computers can break Bitcoin – it’s about “harvest now, decrypt later” attacks happening today. Bad actors are already collecting encrypted data, waiting for the day quantum capabilities catch up. By the time that warning comes, it may already be too late for assets captured years earlier.
Gold Isn’t the Only Answer
Wood’s recommendation to shift into gold makes sense from a traditional risk management perspective – gold has delivered 11% annual returns over the past 50 years and remains immune to cryptographic attacks.
But here’s what Wood’s analysis misses: the cryptocurrency ecosystem doesn’t have to choose between digital assets and quantum safety.
The solution isn’t abandoning crypto for gold. The solution is making crypto quantum-safe.
The 01 Quantum Difference
While Wall Street analysts recommend fleeing to precious metals, we’ve been building the technology to protect digital assets from the quantum threat. Our partnership with qLABS, the quantum-native crypto foundation led by blockchain pioneer Antanas Guoga, is delivering exactly what the market needs: quantum-resistant infrastructure for existing blockchains.
Our patent-pending technology (US #63/832787) enables quantum-safe tokens to run natively on established chains like Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana. This means investors don’t have to choose between the innovation of cryptocurrency and protection from quantum attacks.
The qLABS roadmap includes quantum-resistant wallets launching Q1 2026, wrapped quantum-safe versions of major digital assets, and quantum-resistant stablecoin infrastructure – all powered by IronCAP™ technology designed to align with NIST’s finalized post-quantum cryptography standards.
The Real Question
Christopher Wood is right to be concerned about quantum threats to cryptocurrency. Where his analysis falls short is in assuming the only response is retreat.
The crypto industry has faced existential challenges before – from regulatory uncertainty to exchange failures to market crashes. Each time, innovation provided the path forward.
Quantum computing isn’t the death knell for cryptocurrency. It’s a forcing function for the next evolution of digital asset security. And that evolution is already underway.
The question isn’t whether to hold Bitcoin or gold. The question is whether your digital assets are quantum-safe.
We at IronCAP™ have been trying to educate businesses and individuals that Q-day (the day the first quantum hack is publicly recognized) is around the corner and everybody needs to gear up. Nation states and governments are already at it, how about you? To learn more, visit www.ironcap.ca.
IronCAP™ is our latest innovation for the post-quantum cybersecurity. This patent-protected, post-quantum cryptographic system is based on the Goppa Code-based cryptographic technology. It has embedded our proprietary subclass of (L, G) making it not only more secured but also has faster cryptographic operations (key generation, encryption, decryption) than the traditional Goppa Code-based technology (McEliece). We are offering a live demonstration for the general public to try and experience the strength of IronCAP™ post-quantum encryption easily. To learn more, visit www.ironcap.ca.
