Agent-based modeling as a tool to support decision-making rules used by smart contracts in DLT based communities

Abstract

Various issues are surrounding the relatively new area of smart contract design. These problems are very diverse in nature ranging from performance issues to exploiting of contracts. The concerns stem from the transformation of domain information to smart contract immutability to developers coding insecure smart contracts. Hence, there is a compelling need to study smart contracts to find and address vulnerabilities before deployment on a ledger due to its immutability. This study aims to support the design of a code search community platform through agent-based modeling by simulating systems requirements. In this paper, we present an abstract replication of institutional emergence patterns. We used the ADICO grammar of institutions as the basic structure to model system requirements. We establish a common pool resource of institutional statements through a standardized method, which is then used to simulate smart contracts through agent-based modeling. We demonstrated through a case study the usage of the ADICO framework. We observe common institutional patterns which are used to study smart contract design in an agent-based environment. Institutions made a major contribution to the governance of common-pool resource systems in a simplified environment. In addition, we show how different domain concepts regarding agent-based modeling and smart contract design can be mapped. Furthermore, this study generates open-source software to simulate a decentralized system as an agent-based model through Repast Simphony, from which insights regarding sustainability can be gathered. We conclude that agent-based modeling is a foundational tool for designing smart contracts in new DLT based communities.