THE SMART CONTRACT PRIMER: An Initial Overview of Smart Contract Implementation within Financial Services & Regulatory Solutions for Risk Management

The Global Financial Markets Association (“GFMA”) and Global Digital Finance (“GDF”) have published The Smart Contract Primer: An Initial Overview of Smart Contract Implementation within Financial Services & Regulatory Solutions for Risk Management”.

The Primer provides an initial overview of what smart contracts are, how they are being implemented within financial services and proposes how to apply existing legal and regulatory frameworks to mitigate risks from utilizing such technology.

It represents the broad perspectives of industry practitioners who are pioneering both research as well as the real-world implementation of distributed ledger technology (“DLT”) and smart contracts within business models across the globe.

The Primer highlights how the standards of existing regulatory frameworks, regulatory requirements, and oversight – together with specific application of smart contract mitigants recommended s in this Primer – can be applied to manage smart contract risk. Together, these help to eliminate the need for special regimes to regulate smart contracts and/or duplicative or disproportionate requirements applicable to smart contracts.

Key takeaways and recommendations are available on the Primer’s webpage, as well as the full text of the report.

– 1 October 2024 –