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A "smart contract" is a computer program that manipulates balances on a ledger. There is no way you can use that to hire someone to perform a job because this

by lottin 5y ago

A "smart contract" is a computer program that manipulates balances on a ledger. There is no way you can use that to hire someone to perform a job because this isn't something that can be expressed in terms of balances. You would need an actual contract to do that. Also the parties that interact with the so-called smart contract have no agreement between them. What could they possibly have a dispute over?

tshaddox 5y ago
Yes, a smart contract is not a legally-binding agreement, although it could be a component of a legally-binding agreement. That’s my point. The smart contract in my hypothetical scenario might be something like a transaction with 3 parties: you (the customer), the construction company, and a third-party verification service, that executes your payment to the construction company when any 2 of the parties agree to execute. This theoretically prevents the possibility of any 1 party defecting and running away with a monetary benefit (including the third party verification service, which couldn’t run away with the cash like a traditional escrow service hypothetically could). But my point is that even in this case, if the construction company and third-party verification service colluded to run away with the money without completing the work, you would still sue one or both of them, and my prediction is that the courts would treat this essentially identically to a scenario using traditional contracts.
- lottin 5y ago
  But for this arrangement to work the customer, the construction party and the third-party need to enter into an agreement, i.e. a traditional contract. A traditional contract is legally binding, so of course the courts would treat it as legally binding. The smart contract may be part of the agreement but a smart contract by itself is not an agreement and something cannot be a legally-binding agreement if it isn't an agreement to begin with.
  - tshaddox 5y ago
    I suspect a court would tend to take the existence of the smart contract as a pretty clear indication of the intent of the involved parties. But of course if you’re entering a significant commercial agreement like this you had better make an explicit traditional contract as well.

by lottin 5y ago

tshaddox 5y ago

Yes, a smart contract is not a legally-binding agreement, although it could be a component of a legally-binding agreement. That’s my point. The smart contract in my hypothetical scenario might be something like a transaction with 3 parties: you (the customer), the construction company, and a third-party verification service, that executes your payment to the construction company when any 2 of the parties agree to execute. This theoretically prevents the possibility of any 1 party defecting and running away with a monetary benefit (including the third party verification service, which couldn’t run away with the cash like a traditional escrow service hypothetically could). But my point is that even in this case, if the construction company and third-party verification service colluded to run away with the money without completing the work, you would still sue one or both of them, and my prediction is that the courts would treat this essentially identically to a scenario using traditional contracts.

lottin 5y ago
But for this arrangement to work the customer, the construction party and the third-party need to enter into an agreement, i.e. a traditional contract. A traditional contract is legally binding, so of course the courts would treat it as legally binding. The smart contract may be part of the agreement but a smart contract by itself is not an agreement and something cannot be a legally-binding agreement if it isn't an agreement to begin with.
- tshaddox 5y ago
  I suspect a court would tend to take the existence of the smart contract as a pretty clear indication of the intent of the involved parties. But of course if you’re entering a significant commercial agreement like this you had better make an explicit traditional contract as well.