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

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.