Smart contracts: How will blockchain-based applications influence financial services?

Abstract

Smart contracts and blockchain technology have the potential to change tremendously the contractual practices. Together with the development of blockchain-based technology, many well-known companies and other private or public entities such as governments take advantage of smart contracts. On the one hand, there are costs connected with the programming and coding of smart contracts, or training those administering them, on the other hand, however, it seems to be true that smart contracts will bring greater certainty and extra cost saving for those who apply them in their business dealings. During recent years, rapid technological development has resulted in plenty of changes in the way how financial services are conducted. Blockchain technology is predicted to disrupt the current environment of business dealings by enabling the unprecedented ways to cooperate and communicate between the parties of the contract.