Author: ZmnSCPxj 2021-12-08 00:32:37
Published on: 2021-12-08T00:32:37+00:00
In the day 6 post, the author argues that smart contracts may be a critical precursor to securing Bitcoin's future instead of being something that should come after making the base layer more robust. A "smart" contract is one that self-enforces rather than requires a third party to enforce it, and its execution is done automatically. The degree to which a smart contract is "smart" depends on the difficulty of subversion. The author explains why the reticence of Bitcoin node operators to change the programming model is a welcome feature of the network because any change risks introducing bugs. A contract is an agreement between two or more parties, and it must by necessity require N participants. Contracts require N-of-N replication, meaning that all participants can agree that some transfer is "valid." Lesser L2 layers that support k-of-n have degraded "smartness," as a quorum of k participants can evict the n-k and deny the execution of the smart contract.
Updated on: 2023-06-15T03:21:07.446113+00:00