Location via proxy:   [ UP ]  
[Report a bug]   [Manage cookies]                
Skip to main content

Life Cycle of Smart Contracts in Blockchain Ecosystems

  • Schwerpunkt
  • Blockchain
  • Published:
Datenschutz und Datensicherheit - DuD Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This paper discusses the life cycle of decentralized smart contracts, i.e. digital and executable representations of rights and obligations in a multi-party environment. The life cycle relies on blockchain technology, i.e. a distributed digital ledger, to ensure proper implementation and integrity of the smart contracts. The life cycle consists of four subsequent phases: Creation, freezing, execution, and finalization. For each phase actors and technological services are identified and explained in detail. With the life cycle at hand, risks and limitations of smart contracts and the underlying blockchain technology are briefly discussed.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
$34.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

Literatur

  1. European Central Bank. Virtual Currency Schemes. Report. European Central Bank. (2012) Technical Report.

    Google Scholar 

  2. Vitalik Buterin. A next-generation smart contract and decentralized application platform, white paper.

  3. A. Kosba, A. Miller, E. Shi, Z. Wen and C. Papamanthou, Hawk: The Blockchain Model of Cryptography and Privacy-Preserving Smart Contracts, 2016 IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy (SP), San Jose, CA, 2016, pp. 839–858.

    Google Scholar 

  4. Koulu, Riikka. Blockchains and online dispute resolution: Smart contracts as an alternative to enforcement. SCRIPTed 13 (2016): 40.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Loi Luu et al. Making smart contracts smarter, in Proceedings of the 2016 ACM SIGSAC Conference on Computer and Communications Security, ACM, pp. 254-269.

  6. Surden, Harry. Computable contracts. UCDL Rev. 46 (2012): 629.

    Google Scholar 

  7. Swan, Melanie. Blockchain: Blueprint for a new economy. O’Reilly Media, Inc., 2015.

    Google Scholar 

  8. Nick Szabo. The idea of smart contracts, Nick Szabo’s Papers and Concise Tutorials 6.

  9. F. Tschorsch and B. Scheuermann. Bitcoin and Beyond: A Technical Survey on Decentralized Digital Currencies, IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials (COMST) (18:3), pp. 2084–2123. 2016.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Christian Sillaber.

Additional information

Dr. Christian Sillaber ist wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter am Institut für Informatik an der Leopold Franzens Universität Innsbruck.

Bernhard Waltl ist wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter an der Fakultät für Informatik der Technischen Universität München.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Sillaber, C., Waltl, B. Life Cycle of Smart Contracts in Blockchain Ecosystems. Datenschutz Datensich 41, 497–500 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11623-017-0819-7

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11623-017-0819-7