The Foundation of Trust

When Warren Buffett shakes someone’s hand and says “we have a deal,” you can bank on it. Even when billions are at stake, the money will change hands. His partner Charlie Munger once called this the highest form of corporate culture: a seamless web of deserved trust.

Putting a price on that trust is impossible. Gutmann could not exist without it. In the truest sense, trust is priceless.

Chris Davis, value investor and board member of Berkshire Hathaway, shared some reflections on trust in a recent talk. His question: How can you quantify the trust a company enjoys?

The Price of Distrust

One surprising place to look for an answer: the world of cryptocurrencies. One of the foundational principles of blockchain technology is that trust is not required. It’s a “trustless network.” You don’t need to know anything about the character of the person on the other end of a transaction. No bank or intermediary stands between the parties.

Chris Davis draws a striking conclusion: the crypto blockchain is a technological mechanism for manufacturing artificial trust. The amount of energy the blockchain must consume to synthesize trust is enormous.

Vast quantities of carbon are burned simply so we can rely on the legitimacy of a transaction. Computers run at full speed to generate something that, in a long-standing relationship, might only require a phone call.

With the total market capitalization of all cryptocurrencies topping USD 3.3 trillion, one thing is clear: the absence of trust is expensive.

If, like me, you believe that a network of deserved trust is the highest form of corporate culture, you’ll feel right at home at Gutmann. The trust our clients place in us is our most valuable asset - and has been for more than 100 years.

P.S. Chris Davis delivered these remarks at ValueX BRK 2025. You can listen to his full speech here:

VALUEx BRK 2025 - Chris Davis