Quan Hoang Nguyen Hi, I am also new to this field and recently given this topic to one of my M.Tech student. Do you know any simulator for smart contracts?

Nitin Gupta Your question is related to the following thread: https://www.researchgate.net/post/Simulation_software_for_Smart_Contracts.

Thanks

The term "smart contract" is misleading, since we are mostly talking about program code which is neither smart nor a contract in a legal sense. However, one needs to take into account that we are right at the beginning of this exciting development. I believe that the most interesting research task in the years to come will be to investigate to what extent it is possible to turn contract text into program code while operating within an existing legal framework.

Dear Horst Treiblmaier ,

Thanks for your comment. Your first sentence about smart contract is no quite correct. Smart contract is a special term with a special meaning, see for example,https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smart_contract.

Dear Horst Treiblmaier

I also agree with Quan Hoang Nguyen

Quan Hoang Nguyen Thank you for your comment. Let me elaborate at bit:

It was Nick Szabo who first coined the term "Smart Contract" in the second half of the 90ies:

https://nakamotoinstitute.org/the-idea-of-smart-contracts/

He was using the example of a vending machine where you put in a coin and you get out a soft drink. You cannot compare this to a highly complex transaction such as buying a car.

Let us have a closer look at the two terms "smart" and "contract":

Smart: Smart contracts are computer programs which are deterministic. They are not "smart" in a sense that they can make complicated decisions in fuzzy environments. Legal contracts in the real world frequently use fuzzy terms.

Contract: There are lots of discussions going on to what extent those computer programs actually fit into "our" legal framework and are legally binding. Of course, the frameworks differ between countries. For example, in the real world you can relatively easily withdraw from a contract. On the blockchain this is much harder to achieve.

The definition on the Wikipedia page you mention says: "A smart contract is a computer protocol intended to digitally facilitate...". This is a good definition. First it makes it clear that it is a computer protocol and, second, it states that it "intends". In other words, at the moment we are nowhere close to a situation in which "smart contracts" can replace legally binding contracts on a large scale.

Dear Horst Treiblmaier

In software engineering, the term 'contract' is used quite often, say Design by Contract (DbC). In that sense, it's not related to any 'legal framework'. Perhaps, we are looking in different perspectives.

Quan Hoang Nguyen I guess you are right. "Smart contracts" is just a novel topic in which IT specialists and legal experts need to closely work together. I guess that quite often misunderstandings will occur ;-) I am looking forward how that topic will evolve in the future and to what extent computer programs will be able to replace contracts in a legal sense.

Horst Treiblmaier Thanks for your comments. If you have further comments or opinions, please feel free to share with the readers in this thread. Thanks.

Does anyone want to share something with the readers in the thread?

Smart contract has also been used as a secure transactions in the literature

Here is a highly interesting application of a smart contract:

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3368483

The authors show how a Proof of Stake (POS) algorithm can be implemented as a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO).

Thanks Nitin Gupta and Horst Treiblmaier for sharing.