#dusk $DUSK @Dusk
I was going through what smart contracts on Dusk can actually do that regular chains dont, mostly expecting to find privacy-related things. Found something else that surprised me more: autocontracts.
On every chain i have used, a smart contract is passive. It sits there, has functions, and waits. It runs when a user submits a transaction that calls it. Nothing happens in between.
Autocontracts are a different model. A smart contract can register to react to events emitted by other contracts, and when one of those events fires, the autocontract executes automatically. No user has to send a transaction. It just runs.
The docs frame it as unprecedented in the blockchain world, and i think thats actually right. The standard model assumes a human or a bot is always the initiator. With autocontracts, the chain itself can trigger logic based on what other contracts do.
What opens up from that is interesting. Automated trading strategies that react when a price crosses a threshold. Asset transfers that fire when a condition is met. Business logic that runs on-chain without anyone having to watch and manually trigger it. You can compose contracts that respond to each other.
The caveat i keep in mind: autonomous code that nobody has to call is also autonomous risk. A bug in an autocontract doesnt wait for a user to accidentally trigger it. If the logic is wrong, it executes wrong, repeatedly, until someone stops it. Automation on a chain is the same trade as automation anywhere else, faster and less error-prone when it works, faster to compound mistakes when it doesnt.
what im trying to figure out: is this a feature that actually changes what financial applications can look like on-chain, or is it mainly useful for DeFi strategies that a human could do manually anyway? @Dusk
$DUSK #dusk
I was going through what smart contracts on Dusk can actually do that regular chains dont, mostly expecting to find privacy-related things. Found something else that surprised me more: autocontracts.
On every chain i have used, a smart contract is passive. It sits there, has functions, and waits. It runs when a user submits a transaction that calls it. Nothing happens in between.
Autocontracts are a different model. A smart contract can register to react to events emitted by other contracts, and when one of those events fires, the autocontract executes automatically. No user has to send a transaction. It just runs.
The docs frame it as unprecedented in the blockchain world, and i think thats actually right. The standard model assumes a human or a bot is always the initiator. With autocontracts, the chain itself can trigger logic based on what other contracts do.
What opens up from that is interesting. Automated trading strategies that react when a price crosses a threshold. Asset transfers that fire when a condition is met. Business logic that runs on-chain without anyone having to watch and manually trigger it. You can compose contracts that respond to each other.
The caveat i keep in mind: autonomous code that nobody has to call is also autonomous risk. A bug in an autocontract doesnt wait for a user to accidentally trigger it. If the logic is wrong, it executes wrong, repeatedly, until someone stops it. Automation on a chain is the same trade as automation anywhere else, faster and less error-prone when it works, faster to compound mistakes when it doesnt.
what im trying to figure out: is this a feature that actually changes what financial applications can look like on-chain, or is it mainly useful for DeFi strategies that a human could do manually anyway? @Dusk
$DUSK #dusk
