The Evolution of Contracts — From Simple Agreements to Diverse Industry Specialties

Simply defined as written or spoken agreements enforceable by law, contracts have proven their inevitability in day-to-day life. Naturally, we increased our usage of contracts over the years. As more people entered into contractual agreements, more variables became apparent, causing an evolution of contracts. Once simple, contracts have evolved into diverse industry agreements, matching the dynamic demands of the market.

Now, digitization is taking place in contract evolution. Electronic contracts are gradually growing into a crucial aspect of business due to their convenience and evolving nature. The introduction of smart contracts through blockchain technology also introduces a dynamic new faucet. At PAID Network, we use blockchain technology as a foundation for our contract solutions for both simple and complex contract situations to enable effortless and efficient cross-border workforce solutions.

Electronic contracts

Electronic contracts are defined as electronically written and executed agreements enforceable by law. The contract negotiations and details are executed electronically, with the negotiating parties never having to meet physically. Our platform conducts such types of agreements using blockchain technology.

A screenshot of agreements from PAID DApp V2 UI/UX preview | Source

For instance, a sunglasses manufacturer requiring glass for their products can agree and formalize a contract with a glass supplier through our platform. The contract is entirely electronic with features such as escrow to ensure fulfillment of the contract terms.

Complex electronic contracts

What we describe above is a simplified electronic contract solution. For everyday business operations, complex contracts are the norm. Contracts such as non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) and Confidential Information Assignment Agreement (CIAA) are frequently executed. Companies like Google require their employees, visitors, and vendors to sign NDAs to protect their intellectual properties, while celebrities such as Cristiano Ronaldo protect their personal lives from scrutiny via NDA requirements for their employees.

NDAs and CIAAs have their complexities. For example, did you know, NDAs protect not all information? Or that CIAAs is an extensive form of NDAs?.

Parties require legal counsel for a new execution of either contract due to the legal jargon contained within the texts of the contracts. Moreover, complex contracts are also not cheap. According to CostHelper, NDAs cost between $100 and $1,200. Furthermore, breaking NDA costs even more, depending on the contract details.

Some of the costs are a result of paperwork by lawyers. An automated system, such as the platform we’re currently developing greatly reduces the overall cost of complex agreements. Thus, our platform confirms the next step in contract evolution as having binding agreements on the blockchain.

PAID DApp: An industry-ready smart contract solution

From the challenges we mention, an industry-ready electronic contract must contain the following formalities:

• Simple to understand
• Cost-effective
• Easy to execute
• Maintain privacy and immutability

The PAID V2 DApp platform-generated contracts check all the boxes. Our smart contract solutions meet the diverse needs of an evolving market while covering contract requirements using simple language. We eliminate excessive parties in a contract negotiation by using blockchain technology to create binding contracts.

The PAID V2 DApp generates industry-standard templates approved by lawyers. Negotiating parties are only required to complete a few sections on the platform. Our contracts also support e-signatures, which is a crucial part of the overall functionality of our services. Other pivotal roles we execute through our application to enable the next evolution of contracts in civilian services to include:

• A timestamp on records within the contract
• Cryptographic embedding of sensitive information
• An immutable record of the agreement
• Global access of records by select parties

With such features available, you can complete contract negotiations in accessible, straightforward steps. The PAID DApp only requires negotiating parties to select a template, complete the necessary information, fine-tune select sections of the contract’s parameters, and sign to confirm the legally binding agreement. For instance, our earlier example shared about the sunglasses manufacturer; the two parties can decide to include clauses on delivery, payment, and any other variable(s).

To streamline the delivery of our electronic contract services, we’re constantly working to improve our application. We’ve integrated decentralized identity (DID), smart contract anchoring, and Binance Smart Chain functionality before releasing our V2 product. Our entire UX was also upgraded to a more intuitive and user-friendly system.

About PAID

PAID Network seeks to redefine the current business contract, litigation, and settlement processes by providing a simple, attorney-free, and cost-friendly DApp for users and businesses to ensure they #GetPAID wherever they are in the world.

PAID technology leverages Plasm to operate on both Ethereum and Polkadot ecosystems. PAID makes businesses exponentially more efficient by building SMART Agreements through smart contracts in order to execute DeFi transactions and business agreements seamlessly.

PAID streamlines backend legal operations with SMART Agreements, so that projects can focus on making their brand bigger and better.

For any questions for the PAID network, please feel free to reach out to us on:

• Website: PAIDNetwork.com
• Telegram: @PaidNetwork
• Twitter: @PAID_Network