Open AccessLegal status of smart contracts: features, role, significance
Author(s) -
Elena Anatolyevna Kirillova,
Varvara Vladimirovna Bogdan,
Igor B. Lagutin,
Evgeniy Dmitrievich Gorevoy
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
juridicas cuc/revista jurídicas cuc
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2389-7716
pISSN - 1692-3030
DOI - 10.17981/juridcuc.15.1.2019.11
Subject(s) - computer security , legislation , business , database transaction , certification , smart contract , intermediary , control (management) , field (mathematics) , key (lock) , transaction cost , legal status , smart card , internet privacy , computer science , risk analysis (engineering) , law and economics , law , finance , database , economics , artificial intelligence , political science , mathematics , pure mathematics
This article using critical analysis discusses the legal status of smart contracts, their features and characteristics, and the possibility of introducing this category into the legal field. The main goal of the study is to determine the legal status of smart contracts. The study concludes that a smart contract is a program code based on blockchain technology, which, by legal characteristics, is a legally significant message recorded in a language (artificial language) and sealed with an electronic digital signature of each of the parties (or certified with a special key). It is proved that the multilateral interactions implemented through smart contracts can reduce the costs of operations and control them, increase the speed of operations and reduce the risks associated with dishonest actions of the parties, minimize or completely exclude intermediaries from the transaction; therefore, legislation should provide for the possibility of using smart contracts along with existing contracts.