According to BlockBeats, on October 15, the Argentine judiciary has officially recognized the legal validity of blockchain-based smart contracts for the first time. This landmark decision grants legal enforceability to smart contracts in Argentina, paving the way for their application in various commercial fields such as lease agreements and purchase payments.
The first legally recognized smart contract is a loan agreement built on the Cardano blockchain. This contract was established by two Argentine Cardano ambassadors, Mauro Andreoli and Lucas Macchia, involving a four-month loan of 10,000 ADA (approximately $3,430) with an annual interest rate of 10%. Andreoli stated, "We have just signed the first legally and judicially binding contract on the Cardano network that fully complies with the laws of the Argentine Republic." He emphasized that any breach of this contract could be enforced in court, requiring obligations to be fulfilled in ADA.
To ensure the legal validity of the smart contract, both parties also signed a supplementary legal document detailing the contract's content, the blockchain used, and the transaction IDs of the relevant wallet addresses. This approach may set a standard process for the future legalization of smart contracts.