Cardano has facilitated the signing of Argentina’s first legally enforceable smart contract on its network, under the jurisdiction of the country’s courts.

This contract is a loan agreement between Cardano ambassadors Mauro Andreoli and Lucas Macchia for 10,000 Cardano tokens (ADA), valued at $3,380, with a repayment period of four months and a 10% interest rate.

For the first time, an Argentine court is able to enforce full payment in ADA from a Cardano smart contract, as Andreoli noted in an Oct. 8 post on X.

“We did it, we have just signed the first legally and judicially enforceable contract on the Cardano network, in full compliance with the laws of the Argentine Republic,” said Andreoli.

He and Macchia also signed a legal document specifying important details of the smart contract, such as the blockchain, wallet, and transaction ID used.

Andreoli highlighted that this "milestone" could accelerate the recognition of smart contracts by Argentine courts as a legitimate tool for commercial agreements.

"Legally, this establishes evidence and streamlines procedural steps, marking the initial phase of creating favorable jurisprudence in the country and facilitating commercial transactions."

He also pointed out that such smart contracts could be used for various legal contracts, including rental agreements and purchase deals.

While Argentina already has a robust legal framework for commercial contracts, Andreoli emphasized that the next step is to educate judges on the use of smart contracts.

Argentina legalized the use of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in commercial contracts in December 2023, just 10 days after libertarian anti-central bank advocate Javier Milei became president.

This development precedes Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson’s upcoming meeting with Milei at the Cardano Summit 2024 in Buenos Aires later this month.

Other legal systems have also embraced crypto technology in legal proceedings.

In August 2023, a U.S. court used blockchain technology to restrict access to crypto wallets belonging to sanctioned individuals.

In 2022, the High Court of England and Wales allowed the service of a lawsuit via a non-fungible token (NFT), and later that year, a Florida federal court authorized the service of a lawsuit to alleged crypto thieves through an NFT sent to their wallets.

Sources:

https://cointelegraph.com/news/legally-enforcible-cardano-smart-contract-argentina

https://x.com/MauroAndreoliA/status/1843732654111244561

https://x.com/MauroAndreoliA/status/1843745162402639940