Smart contracts are undoubtedly the most significant application of blockchain. The crypto smart contracts are empowered to make the transaction and execution process much faster, more affordable, and more efficient than ever. These can be defined as self-enforceable digital contracts that execute transactions or agreements independently once certain pre-set conditions have been fulfilled. Put simply, crypto smart contracts function on the fundamentals of condition programming. The usage of crypto smart contracts covers a versatile range of industry, ranging from lending to trading to supply chain to real estate to medical, and more. Check out more about smart contracts crypto at Multibank.io.
Being a blockchain application, crypto smart contracts operate in a decentralized environment. As a result, these contracts eliminate any kind of middlemen or intermediary, and rather facilitate a direct P2P execution. This decentralized aspect makes the smart contract executions more economical and quicker than ever.
The post below offers a brief on the steps for building crypto smart contracts for application in the real world.
Building smart contract for real-world use
Let’s create crypto smart contracts for trading. Let’s say the name of the smart contract will be “Agreement”. The basic entities that will be coded into these crypto smart contracts would be- Seller, Buyer, Product, Order, and Invoice. You will also need to code in the name of the contract while building the contract.
It’s the Seller who would deploy the “Agreement” smart contract for all buyers who would be willing to purchase goods from him/her. For every buyer, the contract would need the account address of the buyer. The buyer will send money to the contract that will be initially saved in the escrow wallet of the crypto smart contracts. Once the buyer has received the desired product from the seller, the contract will release the saved payment to the seller. This way, crypto smart contracts help to prevent unwanted counterparty risks.
Here are the steps to be followed for building crypto smart contracts.
The conception
In the conception process, you will chalk out the purpose of building the crypto smart contracts. We have already discussed the purpose of developing smart contracts for this article.
The Coding
After you have developed a clear conception for the usage of your crypto smart contracts, you will have to proceed to the coding part.
You will need to code the contract with a powerful coding language. The first thing that you require here is the right environment, like IDE, for writing the contract. Look for an open-source app that works seamlessly as a web application and on desktop.
If you know the slightest bit about crypto smart contracts, you know it was Ethereum that launched the modern smart contracts in 2015. The Ethereum blockchain is the primary hub of smart contracts. Thus, it would be a smarter idea to use an IDE that is compatible with Ethereum development. This way, you can use Solidity for coding- the famous programming language used by Ethereum itself for developing smart contracts. It would be even more amazing if your chosen IDE comes with a set of beneficial plugins.
Testing is a must
After coding, you will have to proceed to testing the crypto smart contracts.
If the smart contract is about to be used for real-world application, you will need to run rigorous testing to ensure flawless application before it is released for the real world. Testing is also vital because these contracts are completely unalterable given their immutable characteristics. It means, once the contract goes live on mainnet and if you find a bug or need for correction after that- you won’t be able to rectify the error. And, nothing is worse than a faulty smart contract.
So, follow in-depth testing of crypto smart contracts multiple times before finally sending them to mainnet.
You will have to run the testing phase on test chains or testnet. If you are testing crypto smart contracts for the first time, you will be glad to know that you won’t need to pay real crypto for testing your smart contracts. So, don’t skimp on the testing part. Just dummy crypto would do the work for you. The feedback will be immediate so that you can march with the next step as fast as possible.
It’s to note here that some of the IDEs come with in-built testing tools as well as deploying environments.
The compilation
We have reached the second last stage of building and deploying crypto smart contracts. This step is about compilation.
Compilation is a process that converts the code of the smart contract into JSON file. This conversion is crucial as it will make the contract easily comprehensible for regular web applications.
The deployment
Deployment marks the final phase- the phase where you will place the newly-developed smart contract onto your preferred blockchain network. You can choose Ethereum as it’s the most credible and popular network for crypto smart contracts.
As you deploy the contract, make sure to have a transaction for final testing. Use real crypto in this case as now you will be making the contract available for real-world use. Specify the needed details for the transaction, such as wallets, contract terms, rewards, and so on. These will set the stage for the smart contract to function as per your intended real-world use. As mentioned above, crypto smart contracts function based on condition programming. These details will set the conditions so that the contract will only function when these pre-specified conditions will be met.
Final words
You will also need to establish the level of gas required for running the crypto smart contracts on the blockchain network. The gas amount should be mentioned while designing the contract only. It’s to note here, highly complicated crypto smart contracts demand higher gas fees while it costs much less gas if the contract is pretty straightforward. So, calculate the right estimate beforehand, based on the level of complexity of the contract. In case, you specify a larger amount – that won’t be needed for the contract- the excess would be sent back to you. But, do not ever under-estimate the required gas amount as otherwise the entire transaction will fail.
