Publication detail

An Empirical Study into the Success of Listed Smart Contracts in Ethereum

HARTEL, P. HOMOLIAK, I. REIJSBERGEN, D.

Original Title

An Empirical Study into the Success of Listed Smart Contracts in Ethereum

Type

journal article in Web of Science

Language

English

Original Abstract

Since it takes time and effort to put a new product or service on the market, one would like to predict whether it will be a success. In general this is not possible, but it is possible to follow best practices in order to maximise the chance of success. A smart contract is intended to encode business logic and is therefore at the heart of every new business on the Ethereum blockchain. We have investigated how to measure the success of smart contracts, and whether successful smart contracts have characteristics that less successful smart contracts lack. The appearance of a smart contract on a listing website such as Etherscan or StateoftheDapps is such a characteristic. In this paper, we present a three-pronged analysis of the relative success of listed smart contracts. First, we have used statistical analysis on the publicly visible transaction history of the Ethereum blockchain to determine that listed contracts are significantly more successful than their unlisted counterparts. Next, we have conducted a survey among more than 200 developers via an anonymous online survey about their experience with the listing process. A significant majority of respondents do not believe that listing a contract itself contributes to its success, but they believe that the extra attention that is typically paid in tandem with the listing process does contribute. Finally, based on the respondents' answers, we have drafted 10 recommendations for developers and validated them by submitting them to an international panel of experts.

Keywords

   - Software engineering,    - product development,    - technology social factors,    - computers and information processing,    - social implications of technology,    - blockchain,    - ethereum,    - smart contracts,    - new product development,    - business success,    - recommendations for developers

Authors

HARTEL, P.; HOMOLIAK, I.; REIJSBERGEN, D.

Released

3. 12. 2019

ISBN

2169-3536

Periodical

IEEE Access

Year of study

07

Number

12

State

United States of America

Pages from

177539

Pages to

177555

Pages count

17

URL

https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8919981

BibTex

@article{BUT162294,
  author="HARTEL, P. and HOMOLIAK, I. and REIJSBERGEN, D.",
  title="An Empirical Study into the Success of Listed Smart Contracts in Ethereum",
  journal="IEEE Access",
  year="2019",
  volume="07",
  number="12",
  pages="177539--177555",
  doi="10.1109/ACCESS.2019.2957284",
  issn="2169-3536",
  url="https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8919981"
}