Smart contract

The USA seems to be keeping pace with global digitization. Shortly after the country announced its plans on issuing the digital dollar, a new bill was presented to legalize blockchain-based digital signatures.

The use of distributed ledger technology (DLT) and blockchain began to be a pivotal thing in businesses and this pushed many institutions and businesses to start focusing on this ground-breaking tool.

Let’s analyze the objective and most interesting legal issues in the field of blockchain technology, particularly smart contracts, based on a report dubbed "Smart contracts: A legal analysis", published by the Blockchain & Distributed Ledger Observatory of the Politecnico di Milano. Also, the responsible authorities in Italy will discuss this report on Friday 17, 2020.

What is a token? A token is a blockchain-based digital asset that can be exchanged between two parties without the need for an intermediary. A token (coin) can be seen as a set of digital information that is able to give a right of ownership to a subject on the same set of information that is recorded on a blockchain and that can be transferred via a protocol.

From a more technical point of view, a token can be understood in the same way as an algorithm implemented as a Smart Contract, executed on blockchain. Each Smart Contract contains an address list that allows you to find those who can have the tokens and their balance.

Blockchain, smart contracts and incentive mechanisms on cryptocurrencies have big abilities in terms of environmental and social sustainability in Italy, nevertheless, it is necessary to keep in mind that technology is only a tool and that only if correctly applied will it really facilitate the adoption of “green” and fair. Let’s then examine the opportunities offered by the distributed ledger technology (DLT).