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Legal Aspects and Emerging Risks in the Use of Smart Contracts Based on Blockchain

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Book cover Knowledge Management in Organizations (KMO 2019)

Part of the book series: Communications in Computer and Information Science ((CCIS,volume 1027))

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Abstract

Although the majority application of Blockchain Technologies (BT) are in the field of cryptocurrencies, they are gradually spreading to other services where a decentralized, reliable and immutable model makes sense. One of the fields where the use of Blockchain Technologies is spreading the most is in Smart Contracts, computer programs which are executed in the blockchains establishing a collection of clauses between the participating parties that agree to interact with each other and that are executed automatically at the moment in which these clauses are fulfilled. As it is a computer code, both the client and the service provider cannot misinterpret the agreed clauses, facilitating and verifying the agreement of the contract. This article will review existing applications and reviews the main vulnerabilities of Smart Contracts deployed within Blockchain Technologies. It also reviews the legal implications of the use of these technologies.

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Acknowledgements

This work is supported by the Salamanca Ciudad de Cultura y Saberes Foundation under the Atracción del Talento programme (CHROMOSOME project). The research of Yeray Mezquita is supported by the pre-doctoral fellowship from the University of Salamanca and Banco Santander.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. BISITE Research Group, University of Salamanca, Calle Espejo 2, 37007, Salamanca, Spain

    Yeray Mezquita, Diego Valdeolmillos, Alfonso González-Briones, Javier Prieto & Juan Manuel Corchado

  2. Air Institute IoT Digital Innovation Hub (Spain), Carbajosa de la Sagrada, 37188, Salamanca, Spain

    Alfonso González-Briones & Juan Manuel Corchado

  3. Department of Electronics, Information and Communication Faculty of Engineering, Osaka Institute of Technology, Osaka, 535-8585, Japan

    Juan Manuel Corchado

  4. Pusat Komputeran dan Informatik, Universiti Malaysia Kelantan, Karung Berkunci 36, Pengkaan Chepa, 16100, Kota Bharu, Kelantan, Malaysia

    Juan Manuel Corchado

Authors
  1. Yeray Mezquita
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  2. Diego Valdeolmillos
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  3. Alfonso González-Briones
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  4. Javier Prieto
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  5. Juan Manuel Corchado
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Alfonso González-Briones .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Staffordshire, Stoke-on-Trent, UK

    Lorna Uden

  2. National University of Kaohsiung, Kaohsiung, Taiwan

    I-Hsien Ting

  3. University of Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain

    Juan Manuel Corchado

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Mezquita, Y., Valdeolmillos, D., González-Briones, A., Prieto, J., Corchado, J.M. (2019). Legal Aspects and Emerging Risks in the Use of Smart Contracts Based on Blockchain. In: Uden, L., Ting, IH., Corchado, J. (eds) Knowledge Management in Organizations. KMO 2019. Communications in Computer and Information Science, vol 1027. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-21451-7_45

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-21451-7_45

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

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