Smart Contracts and the Illusion of Automated Enforcement

Abstract

This Essay explores the barriers to deploying smart contracts in the consumer finance space: the humans themselves, existing consumer protection laws, and the other businesses which have financial contracts with consumers but that cannot deploy smart contracts. These three barriers render perfectly automated enforcement all but impossible. Nevertheless, there may be room for modifiable smart contracts in the consumer finance space – although these contracts may be only marginally more efficient than traditional contracts.