Gold or Bitcoin: Where is Jefferies’ Chris Wood placing his bets

Jefferies’ Global Head of Equity Strategy, Christopher Wood, says he remains strongly bullish on both gold and Bitcoin as long-term hedges against dollar debasement.“Gold and Bitcoin are the two key plays on long-term dollar debasement. In my global equity portfolio, I have 10% in gold mining stocks and 6% in Bitcoin,” Wood said at the Jefferies India Forum in Gurgaon.

This view comes at a time when gold has surged to an all-time high of $3,698 an ounce, with Indian futures trading near ₹1.10 lakh per 10 grams.

“I remain constructively bullish on gold. Actually, I set a target of $3,600 an ounce for gold back in 2002 — it’s finally reached that target. Frankly, it should have reached that target 10 years ago, given all the crazy things that have been going on with G7 monetary policy,” Wood added.With bullion breaking above $3,500 an ounce recently, he believes “it’s beginning to look like gold’s entered a new trading range.”

While optimistic on gold, he stressed that “the really exciting story right now is the gold mining stocks”, which are benefiting from higher gold prices while enjoying lower energy costs.

On Bitcoin, Wood said the consolidation phase is healthy.

“The next big move in Bitcoin is up. I want to own both gold and Bitcoin, because there’s a demographic issue here. The millennials may not buy gold — they’ll be buying Bitcoin. But if you said to me, you can only own gold or Bitcoin, I’ll own gold simply because history is on its side,” he noted.