The curtain falls on an era: Buffett's 60-year 19.9% compound return, can it inspire the crypto world?

January 1, 2026, a new chapter in investment history has been written. At 95 years old, Warren Buffett officially steps down as CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, ending a 60-year leadership. This is not just a retirement of an individual, but the closing of an era. From a struggling textile mill to a trillion-dollar business empire, from $1,000 in 1965 to now $43 million—behind these numbers lies an almost obsessive pursuit of “true value.”

A Legend Supported by a Single Number

Buffett achieved an annualized compound return of 19.9% over 60 years. This figure sounds modest, but under the power of compound interest over time, it becomes miraculous.

What’s even more astonishing is his consistency. Over 60 years, Buffett outperformed the S&P 500 for 40 years. What does this mean? He not only beat the market but also defied probability itself.

What He Has Experienced

Buffett’s success was not achieved in a vacuum. Instead, he validated his investment philosophy through a series of major crises:

• 11 U.S. recessions
• Dot-com bubble burst (2000)
• Global financial crisis (2008)
• COVID-19 pandemic shock
• Countless market crashes

Each time, he survived—and emerged stronger. This is not luck, but methodology.

The Core Secret of Value Investing

Buffett never plays with concepts. His investment logic is simple: analyze financial statements, study businesses, calculate intrinsic value, then wait. Making decisions based on real information is the foundation of his philosophy.

According to relevant analyses, this is precisely the biggest difference between traditional investing and the crypto ecosystem.

The Collision of Two Worlds

What does traditional value investing rely on? Financial data, business models, industry fundamentals—these are verifiable and sustainable.

And in the crypto ecosystem? On-chain data is vast but fragmented; project valuations often rely on narratives and sentiment. Many times, what we lack is exactly what Buffett values most: a standard for judgment based on real information.

This is not to belittle crypto but to point out a real pain point. The most lacking element in the current crypto ecosystem is a reliable, tamper-proof mechanism for inputting “real-world information”—this is precisely the problem that foundational infrastructure like oracles aims to solve.

What He Has Left Behind

Buffett will continue to serve as Chairman of the Board and retain a “substantial” stake. This means he is not completely stepping away but passing the baton.

From a broader perspective, his legacy is not just numbers and wealth but a methodology:

• Persistence in fundamentals
• Patience with compound growth
• Reverence for risk
• Pursuit of true value

Summary

A 19.9% annualized return over 60 years will forever shine in the history of investing. But what’s truly worth pondering is, in an era of information explosion and noise, how can we return to what Buffett values most: decision-making based on real information.

For the crypto world, this may be the deepest insight—it’s not about finding the next “Crypto Buffett,” but about building infrastructure capable of supporting value judgments. The methodology of value investing will not become outdated; it just needs to find new expressions within a new ecosystem.