Smart contracts: are they as smart as the people who drafted them?
Smart contracts: are they as smart as the people who drafted them?
Once only a theory, smart contracts are fast becoming reality.
The rapid pace of growth of distributed ledger technologies as well as cryptocurrencies like Ethereum, which facilitate programmable blockchain logic, is helping to bring smart contracts into the mainstream.
These contracts are often held out for their ability to overcome issues of trust, performance and accountability, particularly when transacting with unknown parties at a distance. But are they legal contracts? Can they be enforced? And what does “self-executing code” or “programmatically enforced performance” actually mean?
In this podcast with Michael Patchett-Joyce FCIArb, Fergus McCombie, Joseph Dalby SC and Sajid Suleman, all of The 36 Group, I discuss what smart contracts are, how smart they are and how smart they could be, and consider what businesses and lawyers need to think about at this intriguing intersection between technology and law.
Listen to it via Apple Podcasts or on 36 Commercial’s website.