An overview of blockchain smart contract execution mechanism

Lacking a secure and reliable execution platform has hindered smart contracts from being applied in depth and width. Blockchain, as a decentralized, tamper-proof, and non-repudiation distributed computing platform, ensures that smart contracts are strictly enforced according to their established logic and not manipulated in the execution process. Programmability on the blockchain platforms is achieved through smart contracts to expand the application areas of blockchain extensively. However, current public blockchain and consortium blockchain platforms differ greatly in the execution mode of smart contracts, both of which have problems of how to execute smart contract efficiently and flexibly. This article provides a comparative analysis of mainstream blockchain platforms from the perspective of smart contracts execution mechanism, and summarizes the research status quo, challenges, and development trends from the perspective of smart contracts deployment and execution. We also discussed four perspectives on how smart contracts empower Industry 4.0 and explored the potential transition from digital industry to trusted industry through case studies. This article provides a distinct angle of view to survey smart contracts, which may count for the follow-up work of performance improvement for the blockchain platforms.