According to Cointelegraph, Cardano has introduced the first legally enforceable smart contract on its network, under the jurisdiction of Argentina’s courts. The contract is a loan agreement between Cardano ambassadors Mauro Andreoli and Lucas Macchia for 10,000 Cardano (ADA) tokens, valued at $3,380, with a repayment period of four months and an interest rate of 10%. This marks the first instance where an Argentine court could enforce full payment in ADA from a Cardano smart contract, as explained by Andreoli in an Oct. 8 X post.
Andreoli stated, “We did it, we have just signed the first legally and judicially enforceable contract on the Cardano network, in full compliance with the laws of the Argentine Republic.” The contract is supported by a legal document detailing the smart contract loan, including the blockchain and wallet used, along with the transaction ID. Andreoli emphasized that this milestone could expedite the broader recognition of smart contracts by Argentine courts as a viable technology for commercial agreements.
He added that such smart contracts could be applied to various legal contracts, including house rentals and purchase agreements. While Argentina already has a robust legal framework for commercial contracts, Andreoli noted that the next step is to educate judges about this technology. Argentina legalized the use of Bitcoin (BTC) and other cryptocurrencies in commercial contracts in December 2023, shortly after anti-central bank libertarian Javier Milei assumed the presidency.
The contract's introduction precedes Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson’s scheduled meeting with Milei at the Cardano Summit 2024 in Buenos Aires later this month. Other court systems have also adopted crypto technology in legal proceedings. In August 2023, a U.S. court used a blockchain enforcement tool to lock several sanctioned individuals out of their crypto wallets. In 2022, the High Court of England and Wales allowed the use of a non-fungible token (NFT) to deliver a lawsuit to a defendant. Later that year, a Florida federal court permitted a lawsuit to be served via an NFT to the wallets of alleged crypto thieves, as the defendants were unknown.
