Tim Swanson > Quotes

“smart contract is a proposed tool to automate human interactions: it is a computer protocol – an algorithm – that can self-execute, self-enforce, self-verify, and self-constrain the performance of a contract.[30][31][32]  Whereas Bitcoin and its direct progeny are referred to as the “1.0” generation, as shown below, contracts, on “2.0” platforms – the next generation of cryptocurrency, are able to enforce themselves.[33] They do not have a physical enforcement arm the way legal contracts do.[34]  Rather, because they embody complex contractual relationships in computational material, they move certain defined asset(s) automatically under certain conditions. ”
― Tim Swanson, Great Chain of Numbers: A Guide to Smart Contracts, Smart Property and Trustless Asset Management

“As an algorithm the protocol is unbiased and capable of auditing, authenticating, validating, approving, and transferring integer values along a ledger that is distributed to tens of thousands of computers (called mining machines) that are located around the world. ”
― Tim Swanson, Great Chain of Numbers: A Guide to Smart Contracts, Smart Property and Trustless Asset Management