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Dan Connolly edited this page Jul 19, 2026 · 1 revision

Dean Tribble's Smart Contract Definition

A contract-like agreement, expressed in code, where the behavior of the program enforces the terms of the contract.

-- Dean Tribble, CEO of Agoric

This definition is architecture-neutral: it does not mention blockchain. It frames smart contracts as a pattern of software-enforced agreement between multiple parties — the kind of cooperation that object-capability discipline enables without ambient authority.

Canonical Examples

Dean Tribble consistently gives the following as smart-contract businesses predating blockchain, where a trusted third party runs the enforcing software:

  • eBay — software mediates bids, payments, and dispute resolution between buyers and sellers
  • Amazon — software orchestrates listings, payment, fulfillment, and returns
  • Vending machines — the mechanical/software system enforces the exchange: insert money + select item → receive product
  • PayPal, Venmo, Airbnb, Uber, Lyft, StubHub — all businesses where software enforces the terms of a contract-like arrangement between strangers who would not otherwise cooperate

The defining characteristic is that the behavior of the software itself enforces the terms — no human intermediary needed for the standard case. Only a tiny fraction of transactions escalate to human dispute resolution.

Relation to OCaps

Before blockchain, all these smart contracts relied on a trusted intermediary (eBay, Amazon, etc.) to run the enforcing software. Blockchain replaces that intermediary with replicated execution across independent machines. But even on blockchain, the smart contract pattern remains the same — and object-capability discipline makes those contracts safer by construction, eliminating reentrancy hazards and ambient authority.

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