Blockchain Smart Contracts Need a New Kind of Due Diligence

Blockchain Smart Contracts Need a New Kind of Due Diligence

More than 20 years ago, Nick Szabo proposed the use of a 'smart contract' to reduce fraud and enforcement costs associated with traditional paper contracts. His smart contract would be implemented as a “computerized transaction protocol that executes the terms of a contract” – in other words, a computer program. Like any other software, a 'smart contract' computer program would receive inputs, run a series of program steps, and supply outputs. For example, the smart contract could wait for a predetermined condition to occur (eg: a stock reaches a particular price), automatically deem the....


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