Not exact matches
In Ethereum's most ambitious form, companies could be
run completely autonomously on its platform, governed not by executives and legal minders but by a smart
contract that enshrines its rules in
code.
A developer creates
code where a bunch of these
contracts run simultaneously and do not require a «head of command».
Assume — for the purpose of this post — that a smart
contract is a computer program that automates parts or the entirety of an actual legal agreement and that instead of being deployed on a single computer or server, the
code is distributed to, and
runs on, a non-hierarchical network of computers (probably via a blockchain).
In general, this ability to
run apps or execute
code is referred to as «smart
contracting» and the apps are called «smart
contracts.»
[247] To allow otherwise would be to permit the parties to
contract out of the provisions of the
Code under the umbrella of a private agreement, [248] and would
run counter to the purposes of the
Code.
«But what if, we can encode the mission statement into
code; that is, create an inviolable
contract that generates revenue, pays people to perform some function, and finds hardware for itself to
run on, all without any need for top - down human direction?»
The
code that was developed for the (confusingly named) The DAO application was called a «smart
contract,» and
ran as a DAO application on top of the Ethereum blockchain.
However, if the destination is a
contract, then the
contract in turn activates, and automatically
runs its
code.
«What initially attracted me to Ethereum was the social
contract of having this world computer where the
code is basically law — it
runs as written,» said Hoskinson.
A
contract is «activated» every time someone sends a transaction to it, at which point it
runs its
code, perhaps modifying its internal state or even sending some transactions, and then shuts down.
However, once an execution of smart
contract code is kicked off, it generally
runs as fast as the node can process it
Smart
contracts are
code running on (usually) public blockchains, like Ethereum, and can offer the functionalities of securities more cheaply and more transparently than public securities — or even more privately, when encrypted on the blockchain (Oraclize.it encrypted queries) and able to disclose different information to different types of investors.
TokenGen features a simple step - by - step process that allows the user to generate a smart
contract package containing all of the
code necessary to deploy a token on the Ethereum network and then
run a crowdsale in order to sell it to interested parties.
When you initiate a Smart
Contract, the
code running is independent and can not be manipulated.
That's because, while Litecoin is an altcoin, Ethereum is a blockchain platform to
run smart
contracts as they are
coded, and not a coin, per se.
The first and foremost concern is that fact that the
code of applications and smart
contracts running on the Ethereum are written by humans.