Smart Contract as a Type of Contract under Russian Law

Abstract

Introduction. This article discusses the problem of the lack of special legislative regulation of the institution of smart contracts, which is expressed, among other things, in the absence of a definition of the concept of a smart contract and a distributed ledger of transactions (blockchain) in the law. The authors made an attempt to identify the presence of negative effects on legal relations due to the presence of a legislative gap in the regulation of this institution.

Materials and methods. As part of the research, the author uses both general and specific scientific research methods. When studying the issue of the origin of the institution of smart contracts, the authors use the historical method, and when considering the issue of the existence of a gap in the legislative regulation of the institution of smart contracts in domestic law, they use the comparative legal method of scientific knowledge.

Results of the study. The authors come to the conclusion that one of the main problems currently existing in the field of legal regulation of smart contracts is the lack of special regulation of this institution, as well as the lack of legislative recognition of the concept of a smart contract and a distributed registry of transactions. The identified problems create obstacles to the development and application of the institution of smart contracts in civil law relations.

Discussion and conclusions. The study showed that the simplest solution to eliminating the regulatory gap of the smart contract institution is to legislate the concept of a smart contract and a distributed transaction registry in the wording proposed in the draft Law on the Central Federal District, which will make the use of this institution more attractive for participants in civil legal relations and will contribute to the development the specified institute.