We have previously made reference to various aspects of future technology such as IoT and Blockchain. A subset of these developments is a smart contract.
The functionality to register, confirm, authenticate and transfer ownership can apply to intangibles such as contractual agreements, shipping documents, commercial documents, notarised documents, insurance documents and other types of documents and certificates, all of which can be cryptographically controlled.
In the world of international trade finance, contractual agreements can be agreed between any combination of parties in a trade transaction: buyer; seller; bank; insurance company; government entity; chamber of commerce; shipper /carrier /charterer; inspection, analysis and health companies/organisations; etc.
Having access to real-time data would facilitate the formulation of contracts and documents on an automated basis provided that the underlying required criteria is verified by the blockchain, thus producing what is known in blockchain terminology as a ‘smart contract'.
Smart contracts include programmable activation once certain criteria have been met, i.e. ‘if this happens, then do that'.
A smart contract would not require the intervention of an intermediary such as a bank or a lawyer, as it has removed the need for the trust of a ‘third party' by basing the trust element upon a secure mathematical code. The code underlying the contract would execute when a triggering event occurs rather than drafting a contract on a case-by-case basis.
In the current world, a very basic example of a smart contract would be a BPO.