SMART CONTRACTS: A COMPREHENSIVE SURVEY OF TECHNOLOGY, APPLICATIONS, AND CHALLENGES

Abstract

Smart contracts, as self-executing code on blockchain platforms, are transforming digital agreements across multiple industries. This paper reviews the technical foundations, applications, security challenges, and emerging directions of smart contract technology through an analysis of recent academic literature and real-world implementations. While smart contracts demonstrate significant potential in decentralized finance, supply chain management, and healthcare, they face critical challenges, including security vulnerabilities, ecosystem centralization risks, and legal uncertainties. Layer-2 scaling solutions, cross-chain interoperability protocols, and AI-assisted security auditing represent promising directions for addressing these challenges. Our analysis reveals that despite technological advances, fundamental issues in security verification and regulatory frameworks require continued research attention.