Many projects featuring smart contracts have been either rumored to be in the works or have proven to be in actual development by some very smart people. As of today, the concept of the smart contract is a reality, a reality that you can download [9]and use right now, in less than 30 seconds.
What is a "Smart Contract"? According to Wikipedia [10]:
Smart contracts are computer protocols that facilitate, verify, or enforce the negotiation or performance of a contract [11], or that obviate the need for a contractual clause. Smart contracts usually also have a user interface and often emulate the logic of contractual clauses. Proponents of smart contracts claim that many kinds of contractual clauses may thus be made partially or fully self-executing, self-enforcing, or both. Smart contracts aim to provide security superior to traditional contract law and to reduce other transaction costs [12] associated with contracting.
This smart contract bitcoin wallet allows you to create simple and highly complex contracts for the trading of financial value across more than 75,000 tickers representing every major asset class across every major global exchange.
What do Smart Contracts have to do with the evolution of finance, banking and investment?
Well, practically all financial, investment and banking activity is contractual in nature. Unfortunately, many of us tend to forget or disregard the true nature of these transactions, which leaves room for some very unpleasant results - Bernie Madoff, Bear Stearns, the European sovereign debt crisis, Man Financial, Cyprus and Lehman Brothers are just a few recent examples. The use of smart contracts allows the autonomous enforcement of contractual terms regardless the parties credit risk, scienter, malicious intent solvency. It also allows small entities to perform as if they were large global entities.
Let's take global trading, investment and hedging for example - and remember, this entire excercise and application is possible solely due to the abilities of "programmable money", the stuff from which these applications are built.
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Veritaseum's UltraCoin wallet allows anybody who can read a ticker to trade exposure to nearly any publicly traded asset or asset class, to so now, and to do so without going through centralized exchanges along with the inherent counterparty and credit risks therein - and they can do so for nearly any amount, at a fraction of the traditional costs. What does this mean for banks who derive most of their income from fees stemming from these investment and brokerages-type transactions when their constituency can D-I-Y at less cost and more safety? Reference Stress Test on Banks’ Earnings Facing the Veritaseum UltraCoin Value Transaction Platform [13]... Anyone who doubts that this works, how it works or anything else can simply download a wallet and see for themselves. Once downloaded, blank all the input bozes in the "Markets" tab and click search to see what tradeable contracts are available - or make your own.
Download the UltraCoin client now (for Windows and Mac).
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