Smart Contracts On A Blockchain: A Quick Primer

Smart contracts are often promoted as the latest and greatest change to ledgers and transactions – and with good reason.

         Before smart contracts were invented, blockchain technology didn’t garner much interest outside of cryptocurrency enthusiasts.

         However, the Ethereum network changed this by putting as great a focus on its Ethereum token as on non-crypto use case. The most revolutionary one was the smart contract, which used blockchain to automate what was previously a lot of painstaking work and countless hours.

         Smart contracts automated the fulfillment of contracts by storing all information on a blockchain, preventing any possible tampering.

         When a smart contract is signed, all possible information must be taken into account. Therefore, both parties must agree on all conditions, as the contract will not be executed unless they are all met.

         The main advantage to smart contracts over other ledgers is that the contract doesn’t need all information to be on the blockchain to begin with; For instance, a smart contract could stipulate that payment for advertising services will be executed once a certain level of engagement took place. This could be taken even further by stipulating that each user engaging with said advertisement had to be verifiably unique, and so on.

         Another benefit of smart contracts is that machines are impartial. When a dispute takes place regarding the fulfillment of a written contract, a court generally gets involved. Even if everyone in court adheres to the highest moral standard, being partial is always a risk, even if unintentional.

When smart contracts are used, the outcome of any dispute is decided by verified and unchangeable information previously stored on the blockchain, ensuring fairness for all parties involved – which is the main reason we chose to build our platform around smart contracts.

For the reasons stated above, we’ve decided to build Veelancing around smart contracts – ensuring security, limiting the potential for human error, and freeing up resources that we can allocate towards other improvements.