Smart contracts promise to fundamentally re-write how today’s legal agreements work – converting legal code to computer code distributed globally on networks such as block chain capable of automatically executing, making payments, and transferring ownership in property, all in an uninterruptible manner. How will all this impact us?

On March 14, 2018 at SXSW in the brand new block chain section, we will be discussing the implications of smart contracts and block chain. The panelists will be led by Tom Gonser - Partner at Seven Peaks Ventures. Tom is also the founder of DocuSign, the largest trust network for digital transaction management. Next is Ken Moyle, President at K6 Legal Partners, and Director of Public Policy for the Electronic Signature & Records Association. Next, we have Perrianne Boring, Founder & President of the Chamber of Digital Commerce, the world’s largest trade association representing block chain. Finally, we’ll hear from Sergey Nasarov, CEO of Smartcontract.com about the importance of oracles to get data in and out of smart contracts securely.

The business benefits of self-executing autonomous agreements promise to fundamentally re-write the way business transactions happen. If contracts can manage themselves, that means humans don’t need to, freeing up many hours of contract management, and many errors due to the ‘human gateway’ required to follow up and ensure contract clauses, dates, and payments are made. Smart contracts promise:

Self-execution means no contract management is needed, freeing up labor

All parties will perform, because the agreement will automatically execute

There is no ambiguity in the language. Smart contract code has only one execution path based on inputs

Much lower transaction costs due to automation, and possibly use of digital currencies

Highly secure, managed using encryption and digital signature technology

In order for these smart agreements to be widely used however, several questions need to be answered. These questions will form some of the topics our panel will debate at #SXSW2018.

How will the role of your legal counsel change? Will it be reduced? Will lawyers need to learn to code? Or will programmers join the legal team?

Where will the data come from to connect smart contracts to the data they need to make decisions? How will we know we can rely on these data sources?

How does the role of ID proofing change as we build contracts that will automatically transfer large sums of money?

Do smart contracts require a decentralized "trust-less" block chain to operate? Or can these same contracts be built on ‘trusted’ networks?

There are many other questions of course. If you have any questions you’d like to see us address, please let me know. Looking forward to seeing you in Austin!







