Why is Jefferies’ Wood afraid of quantum computers?

[_act_]

Since December 2020 that Jefferies added bitcoin to his pension portfolio, he made profit of 325%. But now he is afraid of quantum computers threat to bitcoin existence and he wants to move the 10% bitcoin pension portfolio to gold with 5% invested in gold and the rest 5% to gold-mining stocks.

I have seen many news about it
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-01-16/mr-greed-and-fear-drops-bitcoin-btc-for-gold-on-quantum-threat
https://www.ccn.com/news/crypto/bitcoin-out-gold-in-jefferies-shocking-treasury-shift-fears/

I understood this better:
https://www.livemint.com/market/cryptocurrency/jefferies-withdraws-from-bitcoin-shifts-to-gold-amid-concerns-of-quantum-computing-11768554917347.html

I think this is what we should discussed about.

[freedomgo]

Since December 2020 that Jefferies added bitcoin to his pension portfolio, he made profit of 325%. But now he is afraid of quantum computers threat to bitcoin existence and he wants to move the 10% bitcoin pension portfolio to gold with 5% invested in gold and the rest 5% to gold-mining stocks.

He actually has a valid point. There have been rumors that quantum computing could eventually disrupt Bitcoin, so it’s understandable that he wants to minimize risk.

Even without that concern, I still wouldn’t go all in on Bitcoin. It’s a risky investment no matter how you look at it. Putting around 5% into gold just makes sense, especially since gold has been skyrocketing recently, as we can clearly see on the charts.

https://goldprice.org/

[MusaMohamed]

He actually has a valid point. There have been rumors that quantum computing could eventually disrupt Bitcoin, so it’s understandable that he wants to minimize risk.

Even without that concern, I still wouldn’t go all in on Bitcoin. It’s a risky investment no matter how you look at it. Putting around 5% into gold just makes sense, especially since gold has been skyrocketing recently, as we can clearly see on the charts.

https://goldprice.org/

As a basic principle of risk management, the advice is diversifying your capital into some assets and both Bitcoin and gold are good investment assests. They are both good in their value growths so that they can be a money storage channel against inflation and its consequence that is popular with fiat currencies.

Any doubt about ROIs of Bitcoin and gold can be found there with given the ROI table and chart which show better ROIs from Bitcoin in last 10 years and I believe Bitcoin will give better ROI than gold in long term. Hence, 5% of capital for gold is acceptable while a bigger part should be for Bitcoin.
https://casebitcoin.com/
https://casebitcoin.com/charts#roi_chart

[betswift]

If the person has the funds, why not?

I don't see this threat myself being the one to fear so much, but you do you, as they say.

[Mate2237]

Yes it's true that there has been so called rumors about the threat to the security of Bitcoin due to the rise of Quantum computing but I think that no body has been able to proof or come up with any evidence about Quantum computing breaking through the Bitcoin BlockChain program. These are just speculation that I don't take seriously, these are distractions and a way to cause fear and tension to both intending and  those who has been into crypto currency.


Well I see that, the man is afraid of his pension money but what is the essence of investing in Bitcoin when you don't even trust the security and future of Bitcoin. I will call this a fear of lose due to these so called Quantum propaganda.

[Satofan44]

I think this is what we should discussed about.

What is there to discuss? Yet another normie person who does not understand quantum computing, believes that he does after reading a couple of headlines and threads on X, and then gets spooked by FUD and acts on it? Please, do not be like the average shitposting spammer here and stop opening useless threats about quantum computers. This has been discussed more than enough, all potential attack vectors have been explored and at this time there is nothing that can be done about it. Research is underway, nothing that you say or nothing that the retard that you are quoting says will change anything.

Well I see that, the man is afraid of his pension money but what is the essence of investing in Bitcoin when you don't even trust the security and future of Bitcoin. I will call this a fear of lose due to these so called Quantum propaganda.

The idiots on the internet fall for the lowest level of propaganda. Those that have made money think that they understand the world, so with them it is even worse. There is absolutely nothing new here or worth discussing. Perhaps OP has failed to find sufficient threats to post in recently, so he opened another useless one.   The new rule should be to give everyone a negative tag who opens a non technical thread on quantum computers. I have already left a negative tag for OP a long time ago, as he continues to spread false information here in order to farm up his post count.

The creation of Bitcoin through mining is also governed by cryptography, and any threat to that system “is potentially existential as it undermines the concept of Bitcoin as a store of value and therefore as a digital alternative to gold,” Wood wrote.

Look at this shit, he does not even understand that Bitcoin mining is not at any risk. He does not even understand that there are extreme differences in various forms of cryptography, nor which ones are impacted by quantum computer. No surprise. 

[Charles-Tim]

@Satofan44
You are right that quantum computer is not that a threat like what many people are talking about, but as many people are so ignorant about it, so some investors can be among them.

I read few days ago in a news about Vitalik Buterin (the ethereum co-founder), about plans to move towards quantum resistant cryptography, it will be good if bitcoin developers can move towards that. People are full of FUD, it will not be good if something unnecessary that is not worth it is used against bitcoin.

[Satofan44]

@Satofan44
You are right that quantum computer is not that a threat like what many people are talking about, but as many people are so ignorant about it,

I read few days ago in a news about Vitalik Buterin (the ethereum co-founder), about plans to move towards quantum resistant cryptography, it will be good if bitcoin developers can move towards that. People are full of FUD, it will not be good if something unnecessary that is not worth it is used against bitcoin.

Thank you, a voice of sanity on this topic even if we may clash heads in others. I would like to clarify here that we absolutely can move towards this cryptography even today, so it is not an issue of can or can't. The problem is that:

• Many of the exiting alternative algorithms bring many other downsides, whether in size or in verification, or other aspects.
• Nobody knows if the existing alternatives are mature enough or the best choice. Making a massive switch to an algorithm now that brings many disadvantages, only to be at risk of being broken again in a couple years is even worse than doing nothing. It creates precedence that we are unable to properly deal with an issue that is as complex as this one.

Therefore, we are still in a sit and watch approach but people who do not know anything about cryptography equate this statement in a rather personal way -- they think it is equal to them sitting at home, doing nothing, watching some TV.   Research is in progress, research on many dimensions of quantum computers, attacks by quantum computers, and defenses against them are in progress. It is happening everywhere in real time, and most developers and software engineers are not the people who do these things. Therefore, most Core developers (and even less so shitcoin developers) can not do anything about this except to wait for those that specialize and only work in these areas to bring forth mature proposals to deal with it. They are doing what they are supposed to do -- everyone is focused on their own role, the thing that they do best.

so some investors can be among them.

I have demonstrated that the person that OP finds smart is a complete idiot here. The mining process is one of the aspects that is the least likely to be compromised in any significant way, yet the smartass is completely clueless about it and ranks it equally with other risks.

The creation of Bitcoin through mining is also governed by cryptography, and any threat to that system “is potentially existential as it undermines the concept of Bitcoin as a store of value and therefore as a digital alternative to gold,” Wood wrote.

In the near future I would not be surprised if someone opened a thread titled "Why is my grandma afraid of quantum computers?".  

[Upgrade00]

If quantum computers reach disruptive levels those gold stocks will be at risk, so will other stocks they have along with the entire banking sector, except he plans to diversify entirely into physical gold and other physical assets, the supposed risk will still exist. Quantum computers are a threat to different levels of cyber security and not specifically to bitcoin.

[Mia Chloe]

Since December 2020 that Jefferies added bitcoin to his pension portfolio, he made profit of 325%. But now he is afraid of quantum computers threat to bitcoin existence and he wants to move the 10% bitcoin pension portfolio to gold with 5% invested in gold and the rest 5% to gold-mining stocks.

Probably because of 2 reasons ; basically either he's actually scared because of false articles all over although I don't think this is the case. or he just wants to spread FOMO to people quick to believe random speculations and articles without proof.

Carefully read up all articles you'll come across about quantum computing in relation to cryptography, you'll discover that the flaws they all claim quantum computing can take advantage of are just speculations and theories not actual facts. Remember when people were doing same thing about the 51% consensus rule? Well today nobody generating 51% would try to reorg when then can get hold of multiple block rewards instead. I see quantum computing falling in same category soonest.

[Ambatman]

I understand him selling some of his Bitcoin for Gold but imagine Quantum computer being his biggest fear.
Imo he believes he has gotten enough from Bitcoin and wants to option for Gold
Maybe he's scared that we may experience a huge dip. 

Bitcoin is now regarded as a less reliable store of value.

Why doesn't the fact that Gold can be found outside earth reduce its reliability as a store of value.
Change is constant
New challenges comes
Likewise new solutions.

[NotFuzzyWarm]

Therefore, we are still in a sit and watch approach but people who do not know anything about cryptography equate to this statement in a rather personal way -- they think it is equal to them sitting at home, doing nothing, watching some TV.  Roll Eyes Research is progress, research on many dimensions of quantum computers, attacks by quantum computers, and defenses against them are in progress. It is happening everywhere in real time, and most developers and software engineers are not the people who do these things. Therefore, most Core developers (and even less so shitcoin developers) can not do anything about this except to wait for those that specialize and only work in these areas to bring forth mature proposals to deal with it. They are doing what they are supposed to do -- everyone is focused on their own role, the thing that they do best.

Spot on. For cryptography, devs and engineers use existing well-veted algorithm's. It is far beyond normal programming skill sets to roll their own and as noted above there is no need for BTC to use the QC resistant algorithms from NIST (yet) giving us time for those to evolve before implementing them.

[Natalim]

I understand him selling some of his Bitcoin for Gold but imagine Quantum computer being his biggest fear.
Imo he believes he has gotten enough from Bitcoin and wants to option for Gold
Maybe he's scared that we may experience a huge dip. 

It’s not just about a huge dip, he’s probably worried that quantum computing could destroy Bitcoin altogether. I’m no expert on that, but I look at it in a simple way. If the biggest tech companies are already aware of quantum computing and are still investing in Bitcoin, doesn’t that say something? To me, that already gives some confidence that this fear isn’t going to play out the way people imagine.

I think someone just needs to properly explain this to him, not in a hype way, but logically, so he doesn’t automatically assume quantum computing will just wipe out Bitcoin overnight.

[xbetz.io]

Quantum fear gets overstated a lot.

Even if large-scale quantum becomes practical, Bitcoin isn’t static, cryptographic upgrades (like post-quantum signatures) would come long before any real threat materializes.
This feels more like a risk management narrative than an existential issue.

[death69]

Wood is not saying that the Bitcoin, tomorrow, crashes because of quantum computers. He is saying something less comfortable, which is that he does not know what happens in 2035 when the cryptography might break, and not knowing is enough reason to leave when you are managing retirement funds for people who can not afford to be wrong.

It is about ECDSA. Quantum computers running Shor's could theoretically make a key from the public key. But only if they are powerful enough, which they are not, not even close. Google's Willow has a hundred and five qubits and you would need millions of the fault tolerant kind.

However, there are already coins that are sitting in addresses where the public keys are permanently exposed. Pay-to-pubkey outputs, spend and reuse addresses. Those cannot be protected retroactively even if Bitcoin upgrades to quantum-resistant crypto tomorrow will not develop. Such a consensus takes years and coordination is messy and we are not even sure the threat is real yet.



https://introtoquantum.org/essentials/timelines/

[AVE5]

Yes it's true that there has been so called rumors about the threat to the security of Bitcoin due to the rise of Quantum computing but I think that no body has been able to proof or come up with any evidence about Quantum computing breaking through the Bitcoin BlockChain program. These are just speculation that I don't take seriously, these are distractions and a way to cause fear and tension to both intending and  those who has been into crypto currency.


Well I see that, the man is afraid of his pension money but what is the essence of investing in Bitcoin when you don't even trust the security and future of Bitcoin. I will call this a fear of lose due to these so called Quantum propaganda.

The whole news about this insecurity threat with the quantum computers are just being too tiring non had ever come to prove the claim and worse of it is that the speculation carries or that such quality of the quantum computer without mentioning the capacity and again, the modernity of the computer had not yet been invented.
That's absolutely living in a hallucination life with bitcoin with the fear that since it's a technological innovations, there'd still be somewhere there in the future where a technology can compromise the secret code of blockchain while all news on this remains unverified.

[X-ray]

Quantum computing is still pretty far away but people can feel the FOMO seeing gold gains. I think he's just trying to reason moving some of his bitcoin to gold and as it happens quantum threat is a topic these days.

The most important thing here is, just because a person move their money to gold doesn't mean everybody should too. If he's truly concerned about quantum risk, he should buy a physical gold bar not gold ETF nor stocks.

Actually gold isn't safe from technological advancement either. There are companies attempting to recreate gold artificially as well. I think that's more concerning than quantum computing risk.

[_act_]

The most important thing here is, just because a person move their money to gold doesn't mean everybody should too. If he's truly concerned about quantum risk, he should buy a physical gold bar not gold ETF nor stocks.

He can continue to hold bitcoin, he should not reuse bitcoin addresses and his coins is resistant to quantum computers. People should follow the same and avoid the the panic.

Actually gold isn't safe from technological advancement either. There are companies attempting to recreate gold artificially as well. I think that's more concerning than quantum computing risk.

Creating an artificial gold that will have the same chemical composition as the natural gold is very possible, the only reason artificial gold is not created is because it is significantly more expensive than mining natural gold.

[ABCbits]

Since he switched from Bitcoin to gold, i wonder if he will fear gold price will crash in the future, assuming technology will be mature enough to bring asteroid (that contain gold and other valuable metal) back to earth.

I read few days ago in a news about Vitalik Buterin (the ethereum co-founder), about plans to move towards quantum resistant cryptography, it will be good if bitcoin developers can move towards that. People are full of FUD, it will not be good if something unnecessary that is not worth it is used against bitcoin.

I think you're talking about his post on https://x.com/VitalikButerin/status/2010621884811845708. He want ETH to use cryptography that is safe for a hundred years, but historically there's no cryptography that deemed safe/secure for such long duration. On Bitcoin, i believe there some detailed discussion and BIP about adding QC-resistant cryptography, but none of them seems detailed or mature enough.

[_act_]

Since he switched from Bitcoin to gold, i wonder if he will fear gold price will crash in the future, assuming technology will be mature enough to bring asteroid (that contain gold and other valuable metal) back to earth.

Asteroid coming to earth is not something easy at all, it is what that caused the extinction of the dinosaurs if the event that buried the asteroid under the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico is true. Another asteroid coming to earth will lead to huge lose of lives and destabilize the earth.

Scientists will deflect any asteroid coming to earth so that it will not reach the earth. That is the best that can be done.

But one possibility will be if the people can be able to easily make it to other planets and be able to mine gold, but there is no technology that can make humans to get to other planets in our solar system, not to talk of getting to other solar systems in our Milky Way Galaxy. If this will be possible in the future, the money needed for it will also be more than the money required to mine gold by miners on the surface level.

But what I still think about are the untapped gold beneath the oceans which are significantly more than the gold on the surface level, but no current technology can also mine gold beneath the ocean, and also it will be more expensive than mining gold on the surface level.

All other ways to mine gold are expensive or non-existent for now.