Main types of smart contracts

Main types of smart contracts

Assuming the reader has a basic understanding of contracts and computer programming, and based on our definition of smart contracts, we can roughly categorize Bridge Smart Contract Development Services and protocols into the following main categories.

1. Smart Legal Contract

This is probably the most obvious one. Most, if not all, contracts are legally binding. Without too many technical issues involved, smart legal contracts are contracts that involve strict legal recourse in case the parties involved in the contract fail to fulfill the purpose of their transaction. As mentioned earlier, the current legal frameworks in different countries and regions lack sufficient support for smart and automated contracts on the blockchain, and their legal status is unclear. However, once laws are in place, smart contracts can be created to simplify processes that currently involve strict regulation, such as financial and real estate market transactions, government subsidies, international trade, and more.

2. DAO

A Decentralized Autonomous Organization , or DAO, can be roughly defined as a community that exists on a blockchain. This community can be defined by a set of rules, Cross chain bridge development embodied by smart contracts and put into code. Then, every action of each participant will be governed by these rules, tasked with executing and obtaining recourse in the event of a program interruption. A number of smart contracts make up these rules, and they coordinately regulate and supervise participants.

The DAO named “Genesis DAO” was created in May 2016 by Ethereum participants. The community aims to be a crowdfunding and venture capital platform. In a very short period of time, they managed to raise a staggering $150 million. However, as hackers discovered loopholes in the system and managed to steal around $50 million worth of ether from crowdfunding investors. The aftermath of this hack caused the Ethereum blockchain to split into two , Ethereum and Ethereum Classic.

3. Application Logic Contract (ALC)

If you’ve heard of IoT combined with blockchain, chances are it involves an Application logic contract , or ALC. Such smart contracts contain application-specific code that works with other smart contracts and programs on the blockchain. They help communicate with devices and verify communication between devices (in the IoT world). ALC is a key part of every multifunctional smart contract, and most work under a hypervisor. In most of the examples cited here , they find applications everywhere4 .

Application of smart contracts

Basically, if two or more parties use a common blockchain platform and agree on a set of principles or business logic, they can together create a smart contract on the blockchain and without human intervention Execute below. No one can tamper with the conditions set, and if the original code allows it, any changes are time-stamped and fingerprinted by the editor, increasing accountability. Imagine a similar situation on a larger enterprise scale and you will see what the capabilities of smart contracts are, in fact a Capgemini study from 2016 found that smart contracts may actually be “years in the future” 5 business mainstream. Commercial applications include insurance, financial markets, the Internet of Things, lending, identity management systems, escrow accounts, employment contracts, and patent and royalty contracts. A blockchain platform like Ethereum, a system designed with smart contracts in mind, allows individual private users to use smart contracts for free.

The next article in this series will provide a more comprehensive overview of the application of smart contracts to current technical issues, taking a look at the companies dealing with smart contracts.

So, what’s the downside?

This is not to say that there are no concerns about the use of smart contracts. This concern has actually slowed this development as well. The tamper-proof nature of all blockchains essentially makes it nearly impossible to modify or add new terms to existing terms if the parties involved need to without major reforms or legal recourse.

Second, even though the activity on the public chain is open, everyone can see and observe it. This anonymity creates problems of legal impunity in the event of a breach by either party, Build a cross chain bridge especially since current laws and legislators are not fully adapted to modern technology.

Third, blockchains and smart contracts still have security flaws in many ways because the technologies involved are still in their early stages of development. This inexperience with code and platforms eventually led to the DAO incident in 2016.

All of this can lead to a large initial investment by a business or company when it needs to adapt the blockchain for its use. However, these are the initial one-time investments, and the potential savings that accompany them, are what interest people.

in conclusion

The current legal framework does not really support a comprehensive smart contract society, and for obvious reasons will not support it in the near future. One solution is to opt for “hybrid” contracts , which combine traditional legal texts and documents with smart contract code running on a blockchain designed for this purpose. However, even hybrid contracts remain largely unexplored, as innovative legislatures are required to implement them. The applications briefly mentioned here and more will be explored in detail in the next articles in this series .