What is a smart contract?

One of the concepts that invigorated the develοpment of blοckchain-based technologies was the idea to get rid of 3rd-party intermediaries, such as banking institutions and monetary authorities, from a person’s financial affairs. It is still under question whether this objective has been reached, but the boom in cryptocurrencies—most notably, Bitcoin—has caused many questions about centralized financial organizations and whether such analog giants can be replaced with a single system that better responds to the ongoing digital data era. The discussions on this aspect have led to the creation of smart contracts, also famous as “Blοckchain 2.0.”

What is a smart contract and how it acts?

By law statements, a cοntract is a negotiation between participants that sets mutual legal duties and legally bounds these parties. A vast number of legal contracts have a verbal form—either oral or written communications. If one party does not execute its obligation within the agreement, then the other can take legal action to be compensated for damages. Such nature of agreement necessitates the engagement of at least 3 parties: 2 of them to make negotiation and one to enforce it.

An alternative contract gets use of the decentralization ensured by blοckchain and excludes 3rd-party engagement. Once the terms of the cοntract have been negotiated, it further executes on its own. At once, the terms are placed into the blοckchain, making the contract fixed, so much so that even its creator cannot amend it once it is established. If a party does not follow its duties, it is charged the negotiated-upon fines.

Smart contract example

Cοntracts apply cοde to implement negotiations among participants. Given the point that the cοde can only act in the mode that it was computerized, they exclude any ambiguity in the respect of the prescribed terms.

They have in their basis a condition, meaning that smart contracts in blockchain feature the form of “if/then/else” statements. To figure out how it works let’s take a glimpse at the example:

Person 1 lends Person 2 one Etherium at an interest rate of 5%, and Person 2 puts up unspecified collateral. Both Persons make a negotiation that the loan will be covered within three months. All details are encompassed in a contract, and the collateral is held in escrow. If Person 2 manages to fulfill his obligations on time, then the cοntract will automatically release his collateral back to him; or otherwise, if he fails to repay, the contract will release his collateral to Person 1.

Legal framework

In terms of law, the UETA statute gave e-signatures and records the same legit status as written ones. Later, any bias against e-legal papers that was still present is eliminated by the E-Sign Act. Recently, certain states, including Arizona, have broadened the scope of their legislation to cover negotiations based on blοckchain.

For a variety of reasons, it is still unclear if these contracts will be used in any substantial way in the foreseeable future. The approach is still in its primary stages to be used. Second, it experiences the same issues that the Internet does, including unplanned outages and congested networks. Finally, it requires that attorneys have advanced knowledge in interpreting code. Smart contracts, as to the American Bar Association (ABA), are an innovative vehicle that will alter how people do business, deliver healthcare, and run society.

Please contact us to get more information.

You can see our current offers in the categories “Cryptocoins and licensing of cryptocurrency operations”, “Ready-made companies”, “Banks for sale” and “Licenses for sale”.