Evaluation of a Legally Binding Smart-Contract Language for Blockchain Applications

Abstract

Blockchain governs inter-organizational business processes and enables decentralized autonomous organizations (DAO) with governance capabilities via smart contracts (SC). Due to the programmer’s lack of prior knowledge of the contract domain, SCs are ambiguous and error-prone. Several works, i.e., SPESC, Symboleo, and SmaCoNat, exist to support the legally-binding SCs. The aforementioned SCLs present intriguing approaches to building legally-binding SCs but either lack domain completeness, or are intended for non-collaborative business processes. In our previous work, we address the above-mentioned shortcomings of the XML-based smart-legal-contract markup language (SLCML), in which blockchain developers focus on the contractual workflow rather than the syntax specifics. However, SLCML, as a blockchain-independent formal specification language, is not evaluated to determine its applicability, usefulness, and usability for establishing legally-binding SCs for workflow enactment services (WES) to automate and streamline the business processes within connected organizations. In accordance with this, we formally implement the SLCML and propose evaluation approaches, such as running case and lab experiments, to demonstrate the SLCML’s generality and applicability for developing legally-binding SCs. Overall, the results of this work ascertain the applicability, usefulness, and usability of the proposed SLCML for establishing legally-binding SCs for WES.