Smart contracts

In the context of blockchains and cryptocurrencies, a smart contract governs interactions with the digital ledger. They allow agreements between network participants to be executed automatically and can act as a complement, or substitute, for legal agreements. A smart contract is prewritten logic (computer program code) stored and distributed on the blockchain that directly controls certain aspects of transactions under certain conditions. A smart contract not only defines the terms and conditions (rules and penalties) around an agreement, but is also capable of automatically facilitating, executing, and enforcing the negotiation or performance of an agreement. A smart contract does this by taking the input, putting that input through the rules set out in the smart contract, and executing the required actions defined by those contractual clauses...