!!! quote "What are smart contracts?" Smart contracts are self-executing, legally binding contracts with agreement terms between different parties like buyer and supplier, buyer and financier, financier and supplier respectively, written into lines of code. These codes and agreements constituted therein; are present across a distributed, decentralized, and secure blockchain network. Smart contracts enable trusted transactions & agreements to be performed among different, anonymous parties without any need of a central authority, legitimate system, or external implementation mechanism. Therefore, these kinds of contracts ensure transparent, traceable, and irreversible transactions.

!!! quote "What are the benefits of smart contracts?" The benefits of smart contracts include: Autonomy: Since the participants are the one making the contract, the need to have an intermediary, broker or lawyer is crossed out. Therefore, the participants enjoy complete authority over the agreement without any manipulations from third party. Trust-Since all of the participants' documents are encrypted and put on a shared ledger, all the unreal excuses of their documents being lost are automatically ruled out. Backup-Since all the participants' documents are duplicated many times over TradeFinex blockchain, they always enjoy free backup. Safety-Cryptography (the technology of encrypting websites) ensures TradeFinex is never hacked and therefore, participants are safe in every aspect. Speed-Since smart contracts deploy a software code to automate tasks, participants save hours of time that would otherwise go towards manually processing all paperwork. Savings-Since there is no intermediary or third party, participants save big on fees paid to notary and more. curacy-Since everything is done digitally, the possibility of human error is automatically ruled out, hence the accuracy.

!!! quote "Will the smart contracts be legally binding?" Smart contracts or blockchain contracts or digital contracts over TradeFinex platform create and enforce an agreed upon performance between two parties, much like their traditional counterpart. The only difference being the smart contracts that are computer-generated and it is the code itself that explains the obligations of the parties. In many cases, the parties to a smart contract are essentially strangers on the internet bound by the digitally-produced but binding agreement. Hence, the smart contracts over TradeFinex blockchain will be legally binding.

!!! quote "How to create a legally binding contract?" After the parties have negotiated techno-commercial specifications of the contract, the Financier/Supplier can initiate a digital Smart Contract. Under this contract, the initiator can add scope of the work, Payment terms and milestones, release conditions along with other party by digitally submitting the contract. The other party can view the contract, edit and modify the terms and send it back to the initiator. Upon reaching an agreement, each party using their cryptographic key, unique to them can sign off on the contract. The cryptographic key would be either a "symbol or process attached to or logically linked with a record" and the deliberate signing off will demonstrate each party's "intent to sign the record". Irrespective of the specific contract terms between the parties, the fact that a blockchain-based smart contract can require the participants to sign the contract through the cryptographic key should ensure them that smart contracts created over TradeFinex blockchain are legally binding contracts.

!!! quote "How do I negotiate with others on TradeFinex?" TradeFinex comes with one-of-its-kind messaging board that is user-friendly, effective and prompt. You can use this messaging feature to chat with other suppliers and financiers. You can exchange files, drawings, documents, and other information on real time basis with other parties. Messages pertaining to techno-commercial details can be exchanged to negotiate a deal with the other parties. Contact information of the registered users will be visible to other registered users. They can reach out to each other on their phone numbers and email ids stated in the contact information.