’Til Death Do Us Part: Couple Records Marriage Contract on Ethereum
There was a time when Bitcoin was the girl with the curl, the hot and sexy new technology that was hip to use by decentralized currency novices. This was typified by the entry of marriage contracts onto the immutable Bitcoin blockchain, to stamp the personal accord in public, ‘until death do you part’, and beyond. David Mondrus and Joyce Bayo were legally bound by minister and blockchain on October 5th, 2014 at Disney World in Florida at a bitcoin party called “Coins in the Kingdom.”
The first quarter of 2016 has seen a shift in value and perception, as Bitcoin governance has come under question. This has left the door open for altcoins and other options like Ethereum to step into the spotlight.
Now, people have begun to record their marriages on Ethereum’s blockchain over Bitcoin’s as a matter of practicality. BTCMANAGER spoke to Hudson Jameson who took the plunge twice, both in faith and in blockchain submission of his marital agreement. Jameson has been involved with the digital currency industry for five years and is beginning to favor Ethereum over Bitcoin, although he uses and accepts both, as well as Dash. When asked why he chose Ethereum in this circumstance, his reasons were based on usability and convenience for smart contracts.
On Ethereum, I can store proof of my marriage and update the data over time in a clean, human-readable interface that is easy to code and easy to read from the chain. To do the same in Bitcoin’s blockchain you would have to manipulate OP codes that the average programmer is not going to be familiar with, or use a third-party site to submit your transaction. Coding my marriage contract using Ethereum’s Solidity programming language was easy, and you can submit the transaction yourself rather than relying on a third-party, Bitcoin-based, proof-of-existence service.
This should not be altogether unexpected. One of Ethereum’s specialty applications is smart contracts, so it stands to reason that its interface for such objectives would be superior in this type of scenario.
Jameson advises that it will take a few hours to become familiar with Ethereum’s clients and smart contract coding before users can do it for themselves. Ethdocs.org provides a good place to start looking for ways to become adept at using Solidity.
If you are starting from zero Ethereum experience, it may take you a few hours to become familiar with Ethereum clients and smart contract information/coding. Once a transaction is submitted to the Ethereum blockchain it generally takes about 17 seconds for the transaction to enter the network and roughly 12 confirmations for it to be considered immutable.
Jameson’s website, HudsonJameson.com, provides a tutorial that can show anyone how to add their marriage to the Ethereum blockchain. Of course, once users understand how to use Solidity, they can apply it to any other type of contract.
Bitcoin has been proven to transmit value beautifully, but for Mr. and Mrs. Jameson, Ethereum and contracts are a match made in heaven.
