One of the things that didn't make sense to me initially was how the Bitcoin network could "know" that a condition had been fulfilled. For example, paying a dowry requires a marriage to have taken place. Likewise, an escrow contract might require proof of delivery of an item.
How could a contract know that the condition had been met?
Oracles offer a solution. The Orisi project has created a framework for setting up and using Oracles for smart contracts:
https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Script
One of the things that didn't make sense to me initially was how the Bitcoin network could "know" that a condition had been fulfilled. For example, paying a dowry requires a marriage to have taken place. Likewise, an escrow contract might require proof of delivery of an item.
How could a contract know that the condition had been met?
Oracles offer a solution. The Orisi project has created a framework for setting up and using Oracles for smart contracts:
https://github.com/orisi/orisi