Blockchain and Smart Contracts 2021

Blockchain is a tool. Samson Williams likens blockchain to a group text message, in which each participant receives a distributed, time-stamped, tamper-resistant (and encrypted) record of data transactions. Each group text has these characteristics. Everyone in the group “sees” the data, and none can change or gainsay any group message. Smart contracts are computer code put on the blockchain (how, exactly?) that establishes self-executing terms and conditions of a transaction. Are smart contracts smart? If certain data comes in and fulfills a pre-set term or condition, then rights and responsibilities are formed, terminated, modified, or shifted among the parties. Ah certainty and transparency, but also ah garbage in and garbage out. Are some contractual terms not amenable to smart contracting? And are smart contracts necessarily contracts? If not, can they still be useful? If a smart contract is a contract, what is the governing document? Is it the words business people and lawyers use, or is it the code that is supposed to reflect the words?

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Webinar Faculty

Moderator:

Christopher Cahill

Mr. Cahill is partner at Sugar Felsenthal Grais & Helsinger LLP, in Chicago, Illinois. He guides secured lenders, creditors, debtors, creditors’ committees, potential purchasers and others through bankruptcy cases, out-of-court workouts,… Read More

Panelists:

John Wilson

Mr. Wilson is the founder of Discovery Squared. He is a certified forensic examiner, licensed private investigator and an information technology veteran with over two decades of experience working with… Read More

Karl Sjogren

Karl Sjogren is a CFO/Controller for startup companies in northern California. He is also author of a 2019 book called The Fairshare Model: A Performance-Based Capital Structure for Venture-Stage Initial… Read More

Stephen Rutenberg

Stephen Rutenberg’s practice focuses on the intersection of special situations investing and FinTech including cryptocurrency and blockchain technology. A significant component of Stephen’s practice relates to his work in the… Read More