Smart contracts are computer protocols used for information transmission, verification, or contract execution. Through smart contracts, traceable and irreversible transactions can be carried out without a third party.
The concept of smart contracts appeared almost simultaneously with the Internet. In 1994, cryptographer and computer scientist Nick Szabo first proposed the concept of "smart contracts". Basically, this kind of automated contract works similarly to if-then statements in other computer programs. When a pre-generated condition is triggered, the smart contract will immediately execute these terms and conditions.
At the same time, smart contracts also occurred earlier than the concept of blockchain. It was not until 2008 that the blockchain technology needed to adopt smart contracts was created, and it received attention as part of the Ethereum smart contract system in 2013.
The new smart contract platform provides users with a new decentralized world. Continuous code writing and execution will bring about a variety of innovations. Furthermore, Ethereum is trying to become the "computer of the world".
The process of building and executing smart contracts based on blockchain is as follows:
1. First, you must be a user of the blockchain. Registered users have a pair of public and private keys. The public key is the user's account address in the blockchain, and the private key is the only key or password to log in to the account.
2. Multi-party users negotiated to program the machine language electronically to specify the commitments containing the obligations and rights of both parties, and the participants each signed their private keys to ensure the validity of the contract.
3. After signing, the smart contract can be expanded through a peer-to-peer (P2P) network and stored in the blockchain according to the promised content.
4. The successfully constructed smart contract will automatically run the contract content after reaching the waiting condition.
What are the practical application scenarios of smart contracts? The common vending machine in life is a good example. The fulfillment behavior is triggered after the coin is inserted in the normal operation state-the beverage selected by the buyer is released and this is an irreversible fulfillment behavior. In the future, smart contract systems will have a wide range of applications in the fields of voting, finance, real estate, the Internet of Things, supply chain, energy, and public services. At the same time, CellETF can also be said to be another application scenario of smart contracts. CellETF is a decentralized trading platform deployed on the Ethereum mainnet. All transactions are executed through smart contracts. At the same time, CellETF is a decentralized exchange on Ethereum. eCell is the platform's basic governance token and core functional token. It is a token created through the Ethereum smart contract and belongs to ERC20 token. It will aggregate decentralized agreements such as ETF clearing, automatic market making, liquidity pools, liquidity mining, and cross-chain price fact prediction machines for smart contracts, providing users with diversified derivatives and strategic choices. As a basic token, eCell will also build an economic model to support the entire Cell network system. Blockchain technology not only supports programmable contracts, but also provides decentralized, non-tamperable, and stable features that are very compatible with smart contracts. Smart contracts based on blockchain technology not only have the advantage of cost efficiency, but also can prevent malicious tampering and interference with normal execution. The characteristics of blockchain technology can guarantee the traceability, security and transparency of the entire program of storage, reading, and execution. The application of smart contracts in the blockchain can enable smart contracts to be executed more effectively. Therefore, smart contracts can be said to complement each other with the blockchain. If smart contracts can intelligently and automatically execute a series of complex and triggered digital promises, adding blockchain technology can enable smart contracts to be executed automatically, intelligently, deterministically and credibly according to the rules specified by participants in advance. The application of smart contracts in the blockchain will also be presented to the public in a variety of ways, so as to achieve deep integration with multiple scenarios.