As you have probably gathered by now, decision-making processes are a big topic of Web3. You might have already heard something about smart contracts. They are a type of digital agreement that can automate complex processes and eliminate the need for intermediaries. Smart contracts are built using blockchain technology, which provides a secure and immutable digital ledger for recording and verifying transactions. It is created to be a self-executing program that runs on the blockchain and is designed to automatically execute when certain conditions are met. These conditions can be programmed to enforce rules and regulations without the need for human intervention, which makes smart contracts ideal for use in situations where trust is important, such as in financial transactions, voting, or supply chain management.

Because smart contracts are built on a blockchain, they benefit from the consensus mechanism you learned about in the previous module in order to validate transactions in the network and decide what gets to be included in the blockchain. This means that once a smart contract is created, it cannot be altered or tampered with, which ensures the integrity of the agreement and can deter dishonest behavior or potential fraud.

Smart contracts can revolutionize the way we do business and interact with each other online. By streamlining and automating complex processes without human intervention and intermediaries, they can increase transparency, making processes faster, more secure and affordable. All in all, they are are an exciting development in the Web3 and blockchain space with a lot of real-world applications.