Maruf Ahmed Mridul, Kaiyang Chang, Aparna Gupta, Oshani Seneviratne
The global financial landscape is experiencing significant transformation driven by technological advancements and evolving market dynamics. Moreover, blockchain technology has become a pivotal platform with widespread applications, especially in finance. Cross-border payments have emerged as a key area of interest, with blockchain offering inherent benefits such as enhanced security, transparency, and efficiency compared to traditional banking systems. This paper presents a novel framework leveraging blockchain technology and smart contracts to emulate cross-border payments, ensuring interoperability and compliance with international standards such as ISO20022. Key contributions of this paper include a novel prototype framework for implementing smart contracts and web clients for streamlined transactions and a mechanism to translate ISO20022 standard messages. Our framework can provide a practical solution for secure, efficient, and transparent cross-border transactions, contributing to the ongoing evolution of global finance and the emerging landscape of decentralized finance.
El uso del comercio electrónico para celebrar relaciones de consumo cada vez toma más protagonismo en la sociedad de la información. El constante desarrollo de las tecnologías hace que las plataformas existentes puedan beneficiarse de sus características; sin embargo, también traen consigo diferentes cuestiones jurídicas que deben mitigarse a fin de proteger los intereses y derechos de los usuarios. La tecnología blockchain es una de las tecnologías que viene a revolucionar el ámbito de las relaciones electrónicas B2C gracias a su carácter transnacional, descentralización, garantía de confianza, inmutabilidad y a una de sus funcionalidades más características: los smart contracts. Este tipo de acuerdos se distinguen por su automatización y autoejecución, caracteres que a priori pueden poner en riesgo la legislación existente sobre consumidores y usuarios. Asimismo, las oportunidades que brinda blockchain de cara a que los usuarios puedan actuar de forma irreconocible puede poner en jaque la normativa encargada de determinar la competencia judicial internacional y la ley aplicable a las relaciones jurídicas de consumo B2C. Este trabajo analiza la aplicabilidad de los smart contracts en el ámbito del comercio electrónico, en especial en el de empresas con consumidores (B2C) y estudiar los posibles inconvenientes que generan sobre la normativa existente a fin de analizar si es necesario adaptar la legislación a estas tecnologías.
Abstract Contract automation is a challenging topic within Artificial Intelligence and LegalTech. From digitised contracts via smart contracts, we are heading towards Intelligent Contracts ( iContracts ). We will address the main challenge of iContracts: the handling of communications and risk data in contract automation. Our Research Question reads: to what extent is it possible to develop an ontology that automates contracts with communications and risk data? The article designs and conceptualises an iContract ontology. Our findings validate the conceptual expressiveness of our ontology. A brief discussion highlights the value of the ontology design and its application domains. From the results, we may conclude that the current method is innovative and that further research is necessary for handling more complex use cases.
Smart contracts are autonomous and immutable pieces of code that are deployed on blockchain networks and run by miners. They were first introduced by Ethereum in 2014 and have since been used for various applications such as security tokens, voting, gambling, non-fungible tokens, self-sovereign identities, stock taking, decentralized finances, decentralized exchanges, and atomic swaps. Since smart contracts are immutable, their bugs cannot be fixed, which may lead to significant monetary losses. While many researchers have focused on testing smart contracts, our recent work has highlighted a gap between test adequacy and test data generation, despite numerous efforts in both fields. Our framework, Griffin, tackles this deficiency by employing a targeted symbolic execution technique for generating test data. This tool can be used in diverse applications, such as killing the survived mutants in mutation testing, validating static analysis alarms, creating counter-examples for safety conditions, and reaching manually selected lines of code. This paper discusses how smart contracts differ from legacy software in targeted symbolic execution and how these differences can affect the tool structure, leading us to propose an enhanced version of the control-flow graph for Solidity smart contracts called CFG+. We also discuss how Griffin can utilize custom heuristics to explore the program space and find the test data that reaches a target line while considering a safety condition in a reasonable execution time. We conducted experiments involving an extensive set of smart contracts, target lines, and safety conditions based on real-world faults and test suites from related tools. The results of our evaluation demonstrate that Griffin can effectively identify the required test data within a reasonable timeframe.
Smart contracts are frequently vulnerable to control-flow attacks based on confused deputies, reentrancy, and incorrect error handling. These attacks exploit the complexity of interactions among multiple possibly unknown contracts. Existing best practices to prevent vulnerabilities rely on code patterns and heuristics that produce both false positives and false negatives. Even with extensive audits and heuristic tools, new vulnerabilities continue to arise, routinely costing tens of millions of dollars. We introduce SCIF, a language for secure smart contracts, that addresses these classes of control-flow attacks. By extending secure information flow mechanisms in a principled way, SCIF enforces both classic end-to-end information flow security and new security restrictions on control flow, even when SCIF contracts interact with malicious non-SCIF code. SCIF is implemented as a compiler to Solidity. We show how SCIF can secure contracts with minimal overhead through case studies of applications with intricate security reasoning and a large corpus of insecure code.
Muhammad Izzul Syahmi Zulkepli, Nur Bakri Abd Hamid, Hazrul Hizam Karim, Mohammad Taqiuddin Mohamad
The rapid development in technology, especially smart contract technology, poses challenges in aligning its principles with the Shariah perspective. Although this technology has great potential to facilitate human affairs in various fields, including the financial, zakat and halal sectors, the gap between Shariah researchers and the understanding of this technological innovation is wide due to the complexity of smart contracts involving technical aspects and new innovations. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to explore the challenges in understanding smart contract technology from the perspective of Islamic law. A qualitative approach based on library research was applied to achieve the objectives of the study by referring to relevant documents and literature. The collected data was then analyzed using thematic content analysis methods, enabling the identification of themes and patterns in the literature related to smart contracts and Shariah principles. The results found that there is a significant gap in the understanding of smart contracts among Shariah researchers, mainly due to the technical complexities involved and limited accessibility to relevant information. To address the knowledge gap, it is important to increase access to comprehensive resources that describe the technical aspects of smart contracts along with Shariah principles. Collaboration between technologists and Shariah scholars are important to facilitate mutual understanding and bridge the gap between the two domains. Additionally, ongoing research and discourse is encouraged to refine the understanding of smart contracts within the Shariah framework.
Emerging technologies play pivotal role to accelerate the application of various developing sectors of the world. Automation and digitalization coupled with blazing fast networking have the potential to automate the execution of civil law. More precisely, smart execution and enforcement of contracts. With this notion in mind, this short article elaborates on the technical attributes of smart contracts and the technology that empowers it, the “Blockchain” and Distributed Ledger Technology or DLT. Moreover, the author of this article strived to emphasize the need for regulatory compliance of this evolving technology with reference to the adoption of smart contracts in various jurisdictions. Finally, the goal of this article is to extrapolate the exigencies of smart contract and how it can revolutionize the traditional contract law with automation and efficiency.
This chapter discusses how blockchain and smart contract technologies have the potential to revolutionize the intellectual property (IP) domain, especially in copyright. By tokenizing works, ownership metadata, licensing terms, and remuneration, these technologies can automate and standardize a multitude of IP-related transactions. Smart contracts can authorize the use and exploitation of copyright-protected content and ensure proper remuneration. Furthermore, blockchain technology can help businesses manage copyright registration requirements more efficiently, reduce administrative burdens, and costs, and enable direct payments and cross-border transactions. These benefits can drive inclusivity and expand access to formal IP services, especially for micro, small, and medium-sized businesses. Platforms like Blockpool and the Mycelia Project are already using blockchain and smart contracts to create more inclusive financial ecosystems for creators, helping them reach new audiences, enter partnerships, and receive direct payments. As the finance world evolves, blockchain and smart contract technologies offer durability and flexibility for businesses of all sizes.
A ascensão da Internet e as novas tecnologias desenvolvidas nas últimas décadas têm transformado a vida em sociedade, digitalizando diversos processos e resultando na redução da distância física entre coisas e pessoas. O comércio internacional é uma das áreas que lida com essas transformações, sendo o Direito Internacional a esfera responsável por atualizar suas regras. Inserido nas tecnologias de registro distribuído e blockchain, a nova modalidade de contratos, chamada de smart contracts, surge como ferramenta revolucionária capaz de reorganizar a estrutura comercial internacional. Apesar de já serem utilizados com diversos intuitos na atualidade, esses contratos inteligentes ainda implicam em questões regulamentárias, pois envolvem toda uma estrutura interdisciplinar que precisa ser compreendida em profundidade. Nesse cenário, a presente pesquisa tem como objetivo geral desenvolver uma abordagem inovadora e eficaz para a otimização da escolha da lei aplicável aos smart contracts no comércio internacional. Como objetivos específicos, procurou-se registrar a evolução do comércio internacional e sua importância; discorrer sobre a ascensão da Internet e das novas tecnologias no comércio internacional; especificar as novas formas de comércio e diferenciar os contratos eletrônicos dos inteligentes; conceituar as tecnologias de registro distribuído e blockchain; enunciar os conceitos e aplicabilidade dos smart contracts; analisar se eles trazem segurança jurídica; definir a importância da harmonização e uniformização na escolha da lei aplicável aos smart contracts; detalhar as perspectivas do Instituto Internacional para a Unificação do Direito Privado - UNIDROIT e a Comissão das Nações Unidas para o Direito Comercial Internacional - UNCITRAL sobre o tema; para, por fim, oferecer critérios de indicação de lei aplicável. A pesquisa é exploratória e descritiva com abordagem qualitativa, a partir de levantamento bibliográfico e documental, de acordo com o método dedutivo. Conclui- se que a melhor forma de propiciar a escolha de lei aplicável aos smart contracts se dá através da sugestão do modelo de jurisdição em duas camadas voltado para os smart contracts, acoplando a vertente autônoma do código e a defesa da criação de um novo documento uniformizado.
Lucas Massoni Sguerra, Pierre Jouvelot, Fabien Coelho, Emilio Jesús Gallego Arias · 5 authors
Smart contracts face a significant challenge regarding the data transparency inherent to the blockchain-based decentralized systems on which they run. This transparency can limit the potential applications and use cases of smart contracts, especially when privacy and confidentiality are paramount. Presently, blockchain applications that require a certain level of privacy will tend to rely on off-chain, centralized solutions. However, this approach introduces trade-offs, potentially compromising the trust and security provided by blockchain technology.In this article, we advocate for the integration of cryptographic tools into smart contracts, aiming to enhance privacy and address transparency concerns in applications. We introduce the notion of a Privacy Framework (PF) as the general building block that addresses privacy issues in smart contracts by linking privacy requirements and adequate implementations. Since auction are important applications that strongly rely on privacy for reaching their full potential, we adopt in this paper the auction known as Vickrey-Clarke-Groves (VCG) Auction for Sponsored Search as a use case to develop the notion of PFs. In practice, we provide three PF instances, of increasing complexity, to improve the privacy assurances of specific auction smart contracts. Our experimental assessment of these PF instances suggest they are efficient, not only in terms of privacy preservation, but also in gas and monetary cost, two crucial factors for the viability of smart contracts.
The Uniform Law Commission and American Law Institute have recognized the need for commercial law to govern digital transactions and responded with the proposed addition of a new article to the Uniform Commercial Code (the “Code” or “UCC”), Article 12. Article 12 will govern the transfer of property rights in a particular category of digital assets (controllable electronic records), which would include commonly known digital assets, such as bitcoin and non-fungible tokens (“NFTs”). Although the addition of Article 12 should provide more certainty in transactions involving current and emerging technologies, there is a fundamental problem with the article as it is currently drafted, which, left unresolved, will instead invite legal uncertainty and litigation. The problem is the drafters’ choice to cast the “qualifying purchaser” in the role of the dramatis personae of Article 12. Article 12’s “qualifying purchaser” benefits from a generous rule that allows them to take controllable electronic records free from competing claims. The drafters include a person who obtains a controllable electronic record from a thief or hacker as someone who could be a “qualifying purchaser.” However, in order to be a “purchaser” under the current definition in the UCC, a person must take through a transaction that creates an interest in property. Thieves and hackers obtain no property interest when they steal a controllable electronic record, so a person who takes a controllable electronic record from a hacker could not be participating in a transaction that creates an interest in property. Thus, they could not be a “qualifying purchaser,” as the drafters claim. Most of the uncertainty of the result could have been avoided had the drafters chosen a term other than “purchaser” to describe the beneficiary of Article 12’s liberal take-free rule and defined it in a manner that would effectuate the drafters’ statutory aim. However, despite making the drafters aware of this glaring issue, they have failed to remedy the mistake. This is unfortunate and will likely lead to legal uncertainty and, thus, needless litigation after the article’s enactment. Why rely on courts to tweak sections of the Code if ambiguities are recognized and can be eliminated by careful drafting? If inartful statutory drafting is a source of uncertainty that can easily be reduced without offsetting social costs, efforts should be made to do so.
Blockchain technology is a revolutionary concept that has transformed various industries, offering decentralized and secure solutions for data management. At its core, a blockchain is a distributed and immutable ledger that records transactions across a network of computers. One of the key features of blockchain is its transparency, as each participant in the network has access to the same information. The application of blockchain technology extends across diverse sectors, with finance being the most promising and well-known application domain. Cryptocurrencies, like Bitcoin and Ethereum, rely on blockchain to facilitate secure and transparent transactions. The decentralized nature of blockchain eliminates the need for intermediaries, reducing transaction costs and increasing efficiency. Beyond finance, blockchain is making significant strides in supply chain management. The emergence of blockchain technology has paved the way for a transformative innovation in the realm of digital transactions: smart contracts. These self-executing contracts encoded in blockchain have garnered significant attention for their potential to revolutionize the way agreements are made, executed, and enforced. This paper explores the concept of smart contracts, delving into the underlying technology, finding applications across various industries, legal implications, and future prospects.
Araújo, Fernando Ribas, Adriano - Stanley, 2024-04-17
de forma autnoma, logo, sem a necessidade de intermedirios verificadores com promessa de rapidez, previsibilidade, automao e autotutela.No entanto, a rpida ascenso dessa tecnologia instiga reflexes sobre suas implicaes jurdicas.
Smart contracts have played a pivotal role in the evolution of blockchains and Decentralized Applications (DApps). As DApps continue to gain widespread adoption, multiple smart contract languages have been and are being made available to developers, each with its distinctive features, strengths, and weaknesses. In this paper, we examine the smart contract languages used in major blockchain platforms, with the goal of providing a comprehensive assessment of their main properties. Our analysis targets the programming languages rather than the underlying architecture: as a result, while we do consider the interplay between language design and blockchain model, our main focus remains on language-specific features such as usability, programming style, safety and security. To conduct our assessment, we propose an original benchmark which encompasses a wide, yet manageable, spectrum of key use cases that cut across all the smart contract languages under examination. • We give an abstract overview of smart contract platforms, discussing the impact of different design choices. • We illustrate by examples how different design choices give rise to different programming styles for smart contracts. • We consider 6 leading smart contract languages: Solidity (Ethereum), Rust (Solana), Aiken (Cardano), PyTeal (Algorand), Move (Aptos), SmartPy (Tezos). • We develop an open-source benchmark of use cases of smart contracts, implemented in all the languages in our selection. • Based on our benchmark, we evaluate smart contract languages focussing on their security, code readability, usability, and functionalities.
Abstract It has been claimed that technology would replace the legal profession with artificial intelligence and codification of documents replacing the twenty‐first century lawyer. With this premise in mind, this paper discusses smart legal contract formation in the context of Australian contract law, the perceived replacement of lawyers through blockchain technology and how the COVID‐19 pandemic has set the trajectory for smart legal contract convention. We consider whether the legal profession can ever truly be replaced by technological advances and whether COVID‐19 has pivoted the way the legal profession performs business transactions towards modernisation. Although prior literature has considered how the legal profession may benefit from increased technology use, the expected timeframe for occurrence was dependant on a strong reluctance by the profession to change the status quo. Analysis of the impact of COVID‐19 on the legal profession including the execution of legal documents, provides insight into areas for improvement going forward and whether a regulatory overhaul is required. This research shows that, although there are a number of advantages to the implementation of smart legal contracts using blockchain technology, there still remains numerous implementation and regulatory concerns that need resolution if smart legal contracts are to be widely used.
إن التطور التقني أفرز نظاماً جديداً للتعاقد عن بعد يعرف بالعقود الذكية، والتي تمثل أحد تطبيقات تقنية سلاسل الكتل (Block‑chain) وتعتبر هذه التقنيات جيلاً متطوراً ومستحدثاً عن العقود الإلكترونية، إلا أن هذا العقد يواجه بعض الإشكاليات المتعلقة بتكوينه، منها ما يتعلق بالتعبير عن الإرادة والأهلية القانونية للمتعاقدين. لذا جاء هذا البحث لتسليط الضوء على هذه الإشكاليات، حيث خلص إلى بعض النتائج، منها أن الإيجاب يتشكل في العقود الذكية منذ لحظة نشر الكود البرمجي على منصة سلسلة الكتل، وأن أهلية التعاقد تمثل عائق أمام العقود الذكية، وعليه، يجب العمل على تحديد الآلية القانونية المناسبة للتعرف على أهلية المتعاقدين، سواء الشخصية أو الاكتفاء بالشخصية المالية الرقمية للمتعاقدين عبر العقود الذكية، والعمل على وضع تشريع موحد لتنظيم العقود الذكية. Technological advancements have given rise to a new remote contracting system known as Smart Contracts. These contracts, which are an application of block‑chain technology, represent a sophisticated and innovative generation beyond electronic contracts. However, the formation of these contracts faces challenges, particularly regarding the expression of will and the legal capacity of the contracting parties. This study sheds light on these challenges and draws certain conclusions. One of those conclusions that the Offer in Smart Contracts is established from the moment the program code is deployed on the block‑chain platform. Additionally, contractual capacity poses an obstacle to Smart Contracts. Therefore, it is essential to work towards defining appropriate legal mechanisms to determine the capacity of the contracting parties, whether in terms of personal capacity or reliance on the digital financial capacity of the parties through Smart Contracts. Furthermore, there is a need to develop unified legislation to regulate Smart Contracts.
Smart contracts, an integral component of blockchain technology, promise to revolutionize industries through automation, security, and efficiency. This paper delves into the mathematical foundations that underpin smart contracts, facilitating their security, reliability, and predictability within blockchain systems. The investigation spans topics such as deterministic execution, cryptographic security, finite state machines, formal verification, time management, address verification, game theory, statistics, and linear algebra. These mathematical underpinnings ensure the consistent behavior of smart contracts and bolster their integrity in decentralized networks. In a practical demonstration, the paper highlights the transformative potential of smart contracts in diverse industries. Supply chain management, financial services, healthcare, digital identity management, access control, transport, government services, and cyber defense emerge as just a few of the many real-world applications. Moreover, the paper describes the main tools employed in the smart contract development cycle as well as the main behavioral and security design patterns for Solidity smart contracts. This research offers a comprehensive exploration of the mathematical foundations of smart contracts, their application in real-world scenarios, as well as their main design and implementation tools. By unveiling the synergy between mathematics and technology, this paper illuminates the path to harnessing the full potential of smart contracts in shaping the future of blockchain-powered industries.
Smart contracts codify real-world transactions and automatically execute the terms of the contract when predefined conditions are met. This paper proposes SmartML, a modeling language for smart contracts that is platform independent and easy to comprehend. We detail its formal semantics and type system with a focus on its role in addressing security vulnerabilities. We show along a case study, how SmartML contributes to the prevention of reentrancy attacks, illustrating its efficacy in reinforcing the reliability and security of smart contracts within decentralized systems.
Este artículo reseña:
 A. Ortega Giménez. Smart contracts and private international law. Thomson-Reuters Aranzadi, Cizur Menor (Navarra). 2022, pp. 80.