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We are an independent, advertising-supported comparison service. Our goal is to help you make smarter financial decisions by providing you with interactive tools and financial calculators, publishing original and objective content, by enabling you to conduct research and compare information for free – so that you can make financial decisions with confidence.
Our articles, interactive tools, and hypothetical examples contain information to help you conduct research but are not intended to serve as investment advice, and we cannot guarantee that this information is applicable or accurate to your personal circumstances. Any estimates based on past performance do not a guarantee future performance, and prior to making any investment you should discuss your specific investment needs or seek advice from a qualified professional.
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One of the most interesting — and potentially most useful — benefits of many cryptocurrencies is the ability to have smart contracts built into them. A smart contract automatically executes once its conditions have been met. The potential uses for smart contracts could be immense, and they offer another interesting use case for blockchain technology.
Smart contracts, also known as digital contracts, use blockchain technology across a network of computers to fulfill a preprogrammed contract. When the contract’s conditions have been met, the smart contract executes, sending a payment to one of the parties to the contract, as an example.
Smart contracts are appealing for a variety of reasons:
Developers code these contracts, and then the contracts live on a blockchain. In many cases, the contracts are publicly visible, providing greater transparency into the contract’s contents.
To use a smart contract or interact with the blockchain, you’ll need to pay a fee using a native token. “Native tokens are the root cryptocurrency or asset that is then bought and sold,” says Nick Donarski, co-founder and chief technology officer of Ore System, which specializes in blockchain gaming.
Most smart contracts are written in a programming language called Solidity, according to Ryan Boder, core team lead at API3, a crypto technology company. “Solidity was created for Ethereum, the largest and most widely used blockchain for smart contracts.”
Smart contracts can be used in a variety of different contexts, but the most straightforward usage may be one that you’re already familiar with: cryptocurrency.
“What we often think of as cryptocurrency is actually the most simple form of a smart contract,” Boder says. “Cryptocurrency is a smart contract where the use case is to send and receive money or, more accurately, tokens. In that sense, smart contracts are a generalization of cryptocurrency that enable more use cases than just sending tokens back and forth.”
Some other popular use cases for smart contracts include:
“If you want to do more in a trustless environment than just send money back and forth, you need smart contracts,” API3’s Boder says.
Despite the benefits, crypto-based smart contracts do present some downsides to be aware of:
“Smart contracts are a game changer,” Boder says. “But the user experience and guardrails around smart contracts have a lot of room for improvement in order to be used by the masses. Today, they are mostly used by the web- and tech-savvy.”
Smart contracts that use the blockchain are in the early innings, but they should continue to grow in their capabilities, offering new functionality and greater security over time.
“As of now, we are just at the tip of the iceberg,” Guillaume says. “The base blockchains will get faster and better. As such, smart contracts will be more efficient and powerful than ever before.”
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