Blockchain and smart contracts: implications and solutions from a social and legal perspective

The prevailing enthusiasm for the "disruptive potential" and the rapid evolving of blockchain technology complicates the assessment of its suitability for social good projects and its correct application. This challenge persists not only in academic discourse but also among organizations and policymakers. Blockchain's true potential lies in its attributes of reliability, transparency, decentralization, and accessibility. These characteristics empower individuals to manage their assets independently, without the need for intermediaries like banks, companies, or other peers. The chapter will provide a comprehensive examination of the proposed methodologies and frameworks for translating legal agreements into smart contracts or for enforcing the law using smart contract technology. The first part of this chapter delves into the impact of blockchain on both the social and legal domains. The second part introduces the methods and frameworks developed thus far for converting legal contracts into smart contracts. This section will present the current state of the art in smart contract generation and will discuss various approaches, including agent-based, business process-based, state-machine, and unified modelling language (UML) approaches. The final part of the chapter offers an overview of how smart contracts are viewed from a legal perspective, exploring the conceptual connections between legal contracts and the challenges associated with considering a smart contract valid in legal terms.