Deploying Transactional Smart Contracts using Multisignature Boolean Formulas

Abstract

Smart contracts have been established as the standard mechanism for online crypto-currency transactions in blockchains such as Bitcoin and Ethereum. The application scope of smart contracts is predicted to expand beyond crypto-currency in upcoming years, and this emerging technology is likely to play a significant role in other major domains. Smart contracts are usually created using a special purpose programming language. In this paper, we explore an alternative mechanism based on propositional calculus, using multisignature and lock-based boolean variables. Higher order boolean quantifiers have been avoided, and from a security standpoint, the design is deliberately kept Turing-incomplete to guarantee bounded runtime and well-defined termination paths for any valid smart contract (for homogeneous locks, our validation checks run in linear time for best case and quadratic time for worst case). Keeping in mind a widening scope for smart contracts, the applicability of our design is not confined to blockchain transactions, but can be easily integrated into other application domains.