This podcast explores the benefits and limitations of Smart Contracts in the context of human-provided services by considering the practicalities of using Smart Contracts to regulate the contractual relationship between brands and social media influencers.

Further reading:

• For a more detailed discussion of smart contracts, see the Legal Statement on cryptoassets and smart contracts, November 2019, published by the LawTech Delivery Panel UK Jurisdiction Taskforce (downloadable here).
• If you’d like to see one of the starting points - N. Szabo, “Smart contracts: building blocks for digital markets.” (1996) EXTROPY: The Journal of Transhumanist Thought, (16), 18(2), available in revised draft here. 
• For some insight into the vulnerabilities – see, e.g., Singh et al ‘Blockchain smart contracts formalization: Approaches and challenges to address vulnerabilities’, Computers & Security 88 (2020) 101654.
• A promising application of Smart Contracts is in supply chains – discussed here in the Harvard Business Review. 
• Our scenario was inspired by a CoinDesk article on 22 January 2015 (‘Ex-Rugby Star: Smart Contracts Could Prevent Legal Disputes in Sport’).