Shervin Mohammad Zamani has posted The Future of Smart Contracts in Resolving International Commercial Disputes: A Comparative Analysis within the Framework of International Arbitration on SSRN. Here is the abstract:
This paper examines the intersection of smart contracts and international commercial arbitration, assessing whether established arbitral frameworks—principally the ICC and ICSID—are equipped to resolve disputes arising from code-based agreements. Drawing on doctrinal analysis, institutional reports, and comparative study of selected jurisdictions (the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, with references to Singapore, Switzerland and China), the research identifies three core challenge clusters: (1) legal recognition and enforceability of purely code-based commitments; (2) interpretive and evidentiary difficulties arising from the technical nature of code and on-chain data; (3) procedural and structural limits within arbitration institutions and within smart-contract design itself. The paper argues that adaptation must be mutual: tribunals and institutions need targeted rule reform, technical literacy, and infrastructure for handling blockchain evidence, while smart-contract design must incorporate flexibility, oracle-risk mitigation and dispute-ready features. Comparative findings show tension between common-law flexibility (which promotes uptake but risks fragmentation) and civil-law formalism (which offers predictability but may slow innovation). The paper concludes with practical reform proposals—hybrid contract models, expert/technical panels, emergency stop mechanisms, and international harmonization efforts—to enable smart contracts to function as reliable instruments of cross-border commerce rather than sources of legal fragmentation.