What exactly is a Smart Contract?
What exactly is a Smart Contract?
Smart Contracts are small programs that live on the ledger on the block chain. Just like any contract, the “smart” contract lays out the terms of the agreement, and automates the execution of an agreement so that all the parties involved are made aware of the outcome immediately without the involvement of a middleman. Whenever transactions happen, a function is called that invokes the smart contract tied to this transaction. These contracts live on the blockchain because it is necessary for these contracts to be made available for people who run transactions on the blockchain.
History of Smart Contracts
Smart contracts were first proposed by Nick Szabo who was a Cryptographer and programmer in 1996 long before blockchain made its presence. His definition of a smart contracts as digital protocols for information transfer that use “smart” programs to be executed when certain conditions are met was way ahead of its time by more than 10 years. However, in 1996, his proposal could not be implemented because the technology, the distributed ledger did not exist then. In 2013, Ethereum platform made it possible to use smart contracts in practice. Today there are many platforms that allow for smart contracts, but Ethereum still remains the most popular blockchain that allows for the use of smart contracts.
Characteristics of Smart Contracts
Transparent: Smart contracts are visible to everybody when they are run on public networks. They can be traced by anybody but they can be made confidential by encryption.
Immutable: Smart Contracts are immutable by default once they are deployed. Once they are created, there is no way for them to be modified making it extremely difficult to break the contracts among its participants. However, in the Ethereum blockchain, smart contracts can implement the “SELF-DESTRUCT” that allows the smart contract to be deleted or replaced by a new improved contract.
Distributed: Smart contracts are distributed by all the nodes connected to the network. Everyone has a copy of the conditions in the contract and cannot be changed by the participants.
Efficiency: One of the main requirements of smart contracts is that they record all the terms in a very detailed and precise manner. They can execute transactions very fast and result in saving many hours for businesses using traditional processes since they eliminate middlemen.
Top programming languages for Smart Contracts
Solidity
It is one of the most widely adopted languages for writing smart contracts. It is an object-oriented language tailored for the implementation of contracts. It has been widely used for writing contracts on the Ethereum blockchain. C, C++, and Python are the inspiration behind Solidity. Some of the notable blockchains using Solidity built on the EVM network are:
Polygon
Avalanche
Chainlink
RUST
It is a language that is type-safe, and memory safe. Rust data structures are very small and compact. It is a typed programming language that is fast and memory efficient. RUST has the best design and development practices and gives the users options to modify them if they want to. Major platforms that support the RUST languages are:
Solana
Polkadot
OpenEthereum
Zero-chain
Bitcoin Cash
VYPER
It is a python based programming language used for creating smart contracts on the Ethereum BlockChain. It was designed to improve upon Solidity and address some of the security issues that were found in Solidity and remove certain unsafe practices and make it more readable. It has fewer features than Solidity and hence makes it easier to audit. It was created to complement Solidity and not replace it. Platforms that use VYPER are:
Polygon
Polkadot
Avalanche
ChainLink
Yul
It is a new entrant to building smart contracts. It is an intermediate language that can be compiled to bytecode to address the requirements of different kinds of back-ends. It is simple to create while translating from Yul to bytecode. It also ensures the readability of programs by offering constructs such as functions, if-then-else statements, and switch statements. It is now emerging as one of the top languages because of its simplicity and flexibility.
Real World Applications of Smart Contracts
- Supply Chain management
- Insurance
- Clinical Trials
- Loans and Mortgages
- Real Estate
- Cross-border money transfer
Conclusion
There is a need for more improvement in the development of smart contracts. However, smart contracts are revolutionizing the way contracts are being drawn today and making life easier. It is disrupting many industries such as financial services, real estate, manufacturing, and health care. It is only a matter of time before this technology is completely flushed out and the law stays abreast of these changes.