Smart Contracts in International Arbitration: Legal Challenges in the Blockchain Era

Abstract

The diffusion of blockchain-based smart contracts is reshaping the landscape of international commercial dispute resolution. Self-executing code that performs contractual obligations without human intervention challenges foundational arbitration doctrines concerning consent, arbitrability, seat, enforceability, and the role of the arbitrator. This paper offers a doctrinal analysis of the intersection between smart contracts and the arbitration frameworks established by the UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration, the New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards 1958, and the institutional rules of the ICC, LCIA, HKIAC, SIAC, and JAMS. The analysis distinguishes automated contracts from purely on-chain blockchain-native agreements and evaluates decentralized dispute-resolution platforms such as Kleros and Aragon Court. Drawing on Niriella's (2024) critical review, the paper identifies four doctrinal pressure points: the form requirements of the arbitration agreement, the seat and lex arbitri of code-based transactions, the enforcement of awards against autonomous wallets, and the interaction between decentralized adjudication and the New York Convention. The paper concludes that hybrid human–algorithmic arbitration, supported by explicit choice-of-law and seat provisions, is the most coherent path for reconciling smart contracts with existing arbitration architecture.