Executive Summary
Heralded as a technology that could do everything from replace traditional house keys to complex financial agreements, cryptographic smart contracts have captured imaginations in the bitcoin and blockchain ecosystem and beyond.
With this research report, you'll understand the promise of the technology, how it is being developed and the ways in which it may come to impact mainstream markets.
In the report, you'll get an overview of smart contracts, the blockchain technology providers and startups offering smart contract services and the use cases for which businesses are seeking to apply the innovation.
Highlights include:
- An easy-read introduction to smart contracts
- Overviews of over 15 smart contracts technology startups
- Interviews with industry leaders including Eris, Ethereum, IBM, UBS and more
- Reviews of 10 impact areas for smart contract disruption.
Report published: 17th March 2016
Table of Contents
- About CoinDesk2
- What is a Smart Contract?4
- Explaining Smart Contracts5
- What Problems Are Smart Contracts Trying to Solve?6
- If It’s Not on the Blockchain, It's Not a Smart Contract7
- The Origin of Smart Contracts8
- Two Types of Smart Contract9
- Token-Based Cryptographic Agreements9
- Turing-Complete Agreements10
- Oracles: Applying Smart Contracts in the Real World10
- Human Oracles11
- Real-World Applications for Smart Contracts13
- Law13
- Finance14
- Smart Property14
- Trustless Exchanges15
- International Trade15
- Derivatives Trading15
- Synthetic Assets15
- Post-Trade Settlement16
- Lending16
- Corporate Governance17
- Smart Contract-Related Systems Today18
- Smart Platforms with Their Own Blockchains18
- Ethereum18
- Symbiont20
- General-Purpose Ledgers Explicitly Supporting Smart Contracts20
- Hyperledger20
- Tendermint21
- Smart Contract Platforms Using Other Blockchains21
- BitHalo/BlackHalo21
- Counterparty21
- Digital Asset Holdings22
- SmartContract22
- Stellar22
- Rootstock23
- Non-Turing Smart Contract Platforms Using Other Blockchains24
- BitShares24
- Chain24
- Clearmatics25
- Ripple25
- Associated players26
- Consensys26
- Eris Industries26
- Etherparty27
- Smart Platforms with Their Own Blockchains18
- Conclusion28