Crypto · Core
Smart Contract
A smart contract is code that holds assets and executes when conditions are met — a robot escrow that does exactly what you wrote, including the bugs.
Definition
On a chain like Ethereum, a contract is an address with bytecode and storage. It can custody tokens and move them by rule. Immutability is a feature until you need a pause switch. Oracles are the off-chain hole.
Why it matters
DeFi is smart contracts plus oracles plus incentives. Most ‘hacks’ are the contract doing what it allowed.
Case
A lending contract that prices collateral from a thin oracle. Someone moves the oracle, liquidates the world, and the code shrugs. That was the spec.
How to read it
Audit, admin keys, oracle, and upgradeability. The yield is not the product; the permission surface is.
No query has been run yet. Which is tragically normal for most knowledge systems, but we are trying to evolve past decorative databases.