Since the emergence of bitcoin, cryptocurrencies and the blockchain technology that underpins these virtual currencies have experienced a rapid growth, with a plethora of applications emerging. While most popular applications of blockchain technology are in the business field, its main features, such as decentralization or enhanced security, make it suitable to redesign social, cultural and political realities such as the social contract that regulates the relationship between states and citizens. In blockchain economy, the concept of “trust” is redefined as a computable and verifiable property and not as a social assumption. The present paper extends the concept of smart social contracts— a hybrid instrument that encodes public sector obligations into programmable logic— by introducing the essential role of decentralized oracle networks, which enables these contracts to interact with real-world data. The aim of the article is to explore the way in which smart social contracts, powered by consensus-based oracles, can build a new architecture for public accountability by automatically allocating funds or enforcing conditions based on externally validated milestones. To illustrate the concept, we present CivicXChain, a case study involving enhancing environmental accountability in public governance through smart contracts, oracle networks, and citizen engagement. By bringing together formal social theory with decentralized computation, the present paper contributes to the mathematics of trust and proposes a framework for verifiable governance.

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Smart Social Contracts for Public Accountability: Blockchain Oracles and Verifiable Governance

  • Cristina Carata,
  • Kimberley Cheung,
  • Adam Hamilton-Smith,
  • William J. Knottenbelt

摘要

Since the emergence of bitcoin, cryptocurrencies and the blockchain technology that underpins these virtual currencies have experienced a rapid growth, with a plethora of applications emerging. While most popular applications of blockchain technology are in the business field, its main features, such as decentralization or enhanced security, make it suitable to redesign social, cultural and political realities such as the social contract that regulates the relationship between states and citizens. In blockchain economy, the concept of “trust” is redefined as a computable and verifiable property and not as a social assumption. The present paper extends the concept of smart social contracts— a hybrid instrument that encodes public sector obligations into programmable logic— by introducing the essential role of decentralized oracle networks, which enables these contracts to interact with real-world data. The aim of the article is to explore the way in which smart social contracts, powered by consensus-based oracles, can build a new architecture for public accountability by automatically allocating funds or enforcing conditions based on externally validated milestones. To illustrate the concept, we present CivicXChain, a case study involving enhancing environmental accountability in public governance through smart contracts, oracle networks, and citizen engagement. By bringing together formal social theory with decentralized computation, the present paper contributes to the mathematics of trust and proposes a framework for verifiable governance.