Legal Certainty of Smart Contracts: The Validity of Evidence for Blockchain-Based Agreements in Civil Procedure Law

Abstract

The rapid global adoption of blockchain technology has given rise to smart contracts, self-executing digital agreements that automatically perform contractual obligations once predetermined conditions encoded in the distributed ledger are satisfied. While these instruments promise efficiency, transparency, and reduced transaction costs, they raise fundamental questions of legal certainty, particularly concerning their validity as agreements and their admissibility as evidence in civil litigation. This study examines the legal certainty of smart contracts by analyzing the extent to which blockchain-based agreements satisfy the validity requirements of civil law and constitute legitimate evidence under civil procedure law, with particular attention to the Indonesian legal system. Using a normative juridical method combined with statutory and comparative approaches, the study analyzes primary, secondary, and tertiary legal materials. The findings indicate that smart contracts can generally satisfy the substantive requirements of contract formation, yet their evidentiary treatment remains fragmented across jurisdictions due to differing conceptions of authenticity, integrity, and evidentiary weight. Comparative analysis reveals divergent regulatory responses, ranging from explicit statutory recognition to reliance on general electronic evidence doctrines. The study proposes a framework of formal validity, authentication mechanisms, and judicial assessment guidelines to strengthen legal certainty for blockchain-based evidence in civil procedure, and recommends supplementary technical regulation for the Indonesian judiciary.