Smart Contract
BasicsIn short Code deployed on a blockchain that executes automatically when conditions are met — no intermediary needed. The building block of DeFi.
"Smart" is a misnomer: the code has no judgement, it simply runs as written, including the bugs. Once deployed it usually cannot be edited, so mistakes are permanent and audits matter. The flip side is that anyone can read what a contract will do before touching it — and that granting a contract permission over your tokens (an approval) is a decision that outlives your visit to the site.