(Stock market graph with a pair of reading glasses on top.)

Despite the cryptocurrency market crash, at the end of 2017, businesses are still continuing to implement blockchain technology into their company processes. Blockchain technology is projected to transform many industries, such as healthcare, real estate, financial services, the automotive sector and shipping/tracking. Blockchain is a powerful new technology, but did you know that cryptocurrencies introduced another industry-transforming technology?

That other technology is called smart contracts, an innovation that was introduced to the world by the cryptocurrency platform named Ethereum. Ethereum was the first cryptocurrency platform to really get smart contracts operating smoothly. Later on, we saw other cryptocurrency platforms create their own methods for coding smart contracts, such as NEO, Cardano, EOS, Qtum and Ethereum Classic.

The first questions you might ask are: how do smart contracts work and where do I find smart contract services? Smart contracts are essentially self-executing contracts. They fulfill the terms of the contract all by themselves. No supervision is required from a broker, lawyer or notary professional. The smart contract is coded and it will run on the blockchain’s network of computers. That’s where the smart contract is stored and replicated. Smart contracts allow you to do business while eliminating the need for a middleman. Exchange money, valuables and property, party to party. The smart contract holds the trust, and it ensures that all terms and conditions will be filled. Similar to a paper contract, smart contracts define the parameters and penalties of the contract agreement. Smart contracts promise to save us all time and money.

(Young lawyer in suit speaking by a building window.)

You might be wondering how a smart contract knows how to self-execute? A hit price, or date, will trigger the smart contract to self-execute. Individuals involved in the contract will remain anonymous and the contract will be in the public ledger (the blockchain). People can use smart contracts on the Ethereum blockchain, for example, to sell property. Once the seller receives the purchase price, the smart contract will know to release the property title to the buyer. If the buyer doesn’t send the money, then the smart contract would never release the title to them.

Future deals will be done with smart contracts on Ethereum, Qtum and Ethereum Classic. As these platforms become more sophisticated, so will their smart contract capabilities. Currently, Ethereum is ahead of the pack with Qtum as a close second. As the years progress, we may see other platform cryptocurrencies make a name for themselves, such as EOS and Cardano. Only time will tell.

If you own a business, and you’re looking to implement smart contract services, then you’re going to need a professional blockchain developer. Get in touch with an expert blockchain developer that can create smart contracts and a dApp for your business needs. Even though cryptocurrency prices have been low, that doesn’t mean that all these cryptocurrency companies have halted development. The opposite is true. They are working harder than ever to create smart contract capabilities that will change all industries, including the industry that you do business in.