End-to-End Smart Legal Contracts

Abstract

This chapter presents a number of questions that frame the present volume. It asks how ‘smart’ contracts (broadly defined) might move from technologically feasible aspiration to legal and commercial reality. It suggests that a firm legal (particularly private law) foundation is needed for smart contracts before regulation is considered. Uses for ‘end-to-end’ smart contracts without cryptoassets should be considered, suggesting the importance of encoded contracts outside of distributed ledger systems. A streamlined built-in dispute resolution system would give investors and mainstream markets the confidence needed to allow the use of smart contracts to grow. Lawyers need to make a persuasive case so that they and coders can come together to develop the potential that smart contracts offer to the economies and financial communities of the future.