Ethereum & Smart Contracts
Programmable blockchain and self-executing agreements
Ethereum and Smart Contracts
Imagine you and your friend make a bet: if your favorite team wins tonight's match, you get $10. Sounds simple — but when the game ends, someone has to send the money. What if one of you doesn't follow through?
A smart contract removes that uncertainty. It's like a referee robot that lives on the internet. You both agree to the terms, send the money to the contract, and it holds it safely. Once the result is clear, the contract follows the rules and sends the money to the winner.
Smart contracts are small programs that run on a blockchain. They're written in code and automatically carry out actions — like sending money — when certain conditions are met. If the conditions aren't met, nothing happens.
Once a smart contract is deployed, it can't be changed. The rules are locked in and visible to anyone. That makes them useful for all kinds of situations where trust and fairness matter.
Think of a smart contract like a vending machine: you put in the right input, and if everything checks out, you get exactly what was promised.
Today, people use smart contracts for:
Did You Know? The original Ethereum White Paper is titled "A Next-Generation Smart Contract & Decentralized Application Platform." Smart contracts were one of the main reasons Ethereum was created.
They help people around the world make agreements without needing to rely on trust — or on middlemen to enforce the deal.
Smart contracts aren't perfect. If there's a bug in the code, the contract will still follow it. But when written well, smart contracts make digital systems faster, fairer, and more transparent.