Many in the blockchain industry expect smart contracts to enjoy significant (perhaps exponential) growth in real-world applications beginning this year.  This was the general consensus at the industry’s first ever Smart Contract Symposium in New York City this past December.  More than 250 leaders in blockchain, finance, law, and other industries gathered at the Microsoft Technology Center to discuss and promote the adoption of smart contracts for commercial use.  The Digital Chamber of Commerce followed up with a whitepaper identifying twelve business use cases for this technology, ranging from simple identity verification and payment processing to more complex processes like supply chain management and even cancer research.

The bottom line is smart contracts are coming (and may have arrived already for some).  No doubt smart contracts will offer many benefits in terms of decreased transaction costs and increased transparency and security, but even the best-designed smart contracts may deviate at times from the outcomes anticipated by the parties and may have vulnerabilities that can be exploited by the parties or outsiders.  So what happens when contract disputes arise?  Particularly if you are in-house counsel (or if you count in-house counsel among your clients), how can you be sure that the historical best practices for dispute resolution will continue to yield optimal results?  Or even tolerable results?…

Continue Reading Four Reasons to Put an Arbitration Clause in Your Company’s Smart Contracts