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Abstract Strategic communication has long treated trust as both a prerequisite for success and a goal in itself. This article challenges that assumption by introducing Trustless Strategic Communication: a framework for achieving reliance when strategic trust is low or contested. Drawing on blockchain-inspired design and philosophical distinctions between trust and reliance, the article specifies core constructs, theoretical propositions, and a mechanism logic. Trust is treated as graded, and “trustlessness” as an ideal type. The framework explains how communicators can reduce trust-dependence through three routes: epistemic, structural, and procedural. A theory-guided qualitative demonstration (seven semi-structured interviews) shows how these mechanisms appear in practice, often in combination, and highlights boundary conditions and ethical risks. Rather than rejecting trust altogether, the “trustless” approach reframes strategic trust as one tool among others. This framework expands the theoretical boundaries of strategic communication and offers guidance for a variety of communication activities in environments shaped by skepticism.
Aviv Barnoy (2026) studied this question.