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BackToday we’re talking about smart contracts. We usually discuss ideas that are topical only in the crypto community, but this one’s different. Although smart contracts are also a conversation topic among the most avid crypto- and blockchain enthusiasts, this concept has sparked interest beyond that segment. Let’s dive into 5 facts about smart contracts!
1. Smart contract is a self-executing contract with a defined ruleset
Starting from the basics – what are smart contracts? They are essentially a ruleset imprinted on the blockchain. Check out the video of our CEO Kevin Murcko explaining smart contracts in detail.
2. Concept was introduced by Nick Szabo
The initial idea of smart contracts was published by Nick Szabo – a cryptographer and legal scholar. Szabo is known for designing the decentralized digital currency called “bit gold”, where a participant dedicates computer power to solving cryptographic puzzles.
Nick Szabo realized that decentralized ledgers can be used as self-executable contracts in 1994. He later termed the theory as Smart Contracts – digital contracts that can be converted into codes and allowed to be run on a blockchain. Even though the idea was published 26 years ago, it had almost no practical use cases at first.
3. Solidity is the most used smart contract language
Solidity is an object-oriented, high-level language for implementing smart contracts. It is currently the most popular language for programming smart contracts. In fact, Solidity is the most used coding language among blockchain developers as a whole. A study ran on StackOverflow’s data showed that it has twice as many entries as the next most referenced language – JavaScript.
Solidity is influenced by C++, Python and JavaScript and designed to target the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM). It allows creating contracts used for voting, crowdfunding, blind auctions, multi-signature wallets and more.
4. Corporations are loving smart contracts
Recent years have seen a growing interest towards smart contracts among large corporations. Accounting firm Ernst & Young made a big leap towards Blockchain smart contract adoption when they released their token signing and smart contract review service for public in an open beta. The release was published in December 2019 and it is initially able to review ERC-20 smart contracts.
Other major accounting firms are not lagging far behind in the race towards Blockchain adoption – Deloitte has acknowledged the blockchain sector to be close to seeing a breakthrough and PwC has made investments to IoT blockchain networks.
5. Ethereum is still the most used smart contract platform
When it comes to the comparison of the popularity of smart contract platforms, Ethereum is in the lead. Ethereum is the original smart contract platform and it runs the most dApps, partly thanks to its first-mover advantage. The platform can be considered as the closest to going mainstream, as it already has service providers like Microsoft and AWS offering Ethereum blockchain-as-a-service.
On the flipside, the platform is battling with scalability issues and the system-wide upgrade has faced continuous delays. The new launch date for Ethereum 2.0 is expected to be July 2020.
Hopefully you learned something new from this! If you are looking to broaden your crypto knowledge in a practical way, go ahead and start trading on our platforms! If you have any questions about our platforms or CoinMetro in general, reach out to our support team. They are there to help 24/7.