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Session 2.04: "Smart" Contracts and External Financing
Time:
Tuesday, 26/Aug/2025:
11:00am - 11:30am
Location:Carmen Conference hall
Meeting hall “Carmen”, which can accommodate up to 70 people
Presentations
"Smart" Contracts and External Financing
Prof. Katrin Tinn
McGill University, Canada
Hash-linked timestamping is the key feature behind blockchain technology. It makes it possible to design financing contracts that are based on reliable and up-to-date records of transactions. For this reason, it is considered to enhance trust. This paper develops a theoretical model that uses dynamic contract theory to derive optimal financing contracts in a blockchain environment. I show that a dynamically adjusting profit sharing rule is optimal and I highlight properties that determine the splitting rule. In contrast to the view that blockchain enhances traditional contracts like debt and equity by bringing efficiency gains, I emphasise that blockchain allows borrowers to learn from data and take effoort decisions more frequently, which make debt and equity contracts costlier.