Legal Regime of Smart Contracts in Russia, Germany and the USA: Comparative Analysis

The article delves into a comparative study of the legal regime of smart contracts in Russia, Germany and the United States. In-depth analysis of the concept, normative support, technological and legal nature of smart-contracts is carried out, the areas of application of this tool in civil law transactions and other legal relations are highlighted. Significant conclusions were obtained. Firstly, in the legal systems under consideration there is still no unambiguous definition of a smart contract. Secondly, a smart contract is understood to a greater extent as a program code embedded in websites or mobile applications, providing a number of elements of the procedural side of various transactions, rather than as an equivalent of a civil law contract. Thirdly, the areas of application of smart contracts are constantly expanding, they are used in the work of e-government, banking, e-commerce, electoral processes, and other legal relations. This requires the active activity of legislators in the countries in question.