A Lawyer’s Perspective: Can Smart Contracts Exist Outside the Legal Structure?
There can be no debate that technological development has never been as fast, as complex or as creative as it is today. The only problem is, as with all revolutions, when things are moving this fast one has to be very careful when it comes to separating innovation from irritation; as more new tech is made available we have to develop that sixth sense....
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An Arizona legislator wants to amend state law to account for blockchain signatures and smart contracts, public records show. HB 2417, introduced on 6th February, would make a signature enshrined on a blockchain a legal signature under Arizona law. Conversely, any "record or contract" secured by a blockchain would be "considered to be in an electronic format and to be an electronic record". The bill was put forward by state representative Jeff Weninger. Notably, the bill’s language also explicitly accounts for the use of smart contracts, or self-executing agreements....
With contributions from Zerado, FinTech Network have produced a whitepaper that looks at smart contracts and how they could improve efficiencies within the banking sector. The whitepaper highlights: How smart contracts aim to provide security that is superior to traditional contract law and ways they can reduce other transactional and administrative costs. The workings of Ethereum as one of the best examples of smart contracts in practice. Ways that smart contracts could benefit areas such as mortgages, clearing and settlement, KYC & bonds. How challenges with conceptual misalignment,....
"The two things to know about smart contracts is that they’re dumb, and they’re not contracts." This statement from Harvard Berkman Center's Patrick Murck seems increasingly relevant in the wake of the collapse of The DAO. The ethereum-based fund was the largest smart contract issued to date, and its failure has led many to reconsider how ready the technology is for primetime. At their core, smart contracts facilitate decentralized applications by eliminating trust points. Because they automate existing processes, many believe smart contracts could someday lower costs across....
We know that 'virtual currencies' (the term to be hardwired into European Union law) will be covered by new anti-money laundering and terrorist financing regulations. But, while the details on this industry-specific regulation will follow shortly, there are also other pieces of the EU legislation that deserve attention in the meantime. Going forward, it is quite clear that blockchain as a technology will primarily attract the attention of regulators interested in particular applications. Lawyers, by and large, think about bitcoin from the perspective of financial regulations or look at....
Business accelerators all over the world are always looking for the next big thing in technology and finance. It only makes sense to see these accelerators keeping an eye out for companies exploring blockchain technology. Or in the case of BNP Paribas, they are looking at one startup in particular – called CommonAccord – which aims to bring automated....