A smart collateralized non-recourse futures contract on Ethereum: first impression
Today is yet another exciting day, because I just built the first "smart" Ethereum contract that performs a futures trade between two parties. The contract allows two entities with Ethereum accounts to enter into an ether-settled, margined futures agreement on any market (or non-market!) variable - be that the closing price of SP 500, the air temperature at Noon in downtown Manhattan, or a hurricane event in the Caribbean. Why are smart distributed financial contracts important? The world creates a huge notional volume of "exchange-traded" and "over-the-counter" derivative transactions. At this time, these transactions go through investment banks and through exchanges, adding a layer of fees for buy-side institutions and individual investors. If the decentralization trend continues, we will see this marketplace evolve from fees based on volume ("spread") to fees based on access, or consulting fees, making trading cheaper. Smart contracts and E...