A traditional smart contract paradigm provides a solution that is based on a general-purpose instruction set for all domains.
For example, in the case of Ethereum, a set of opcodes has been developed for the EVM that can be used to build smart contracts to address any type of requirements for any industry.
From Initiation to Immutable Confirmation (Part 2)
While this model has its merits, it is becoming clear that this approach is not very secure as it provides a single interface into the ledger with a powerful and expressive language, which potentially offers a larger attack surface for malicious code.
This complexity and generic virtual machine paradigm have resulted in several vulnerabilities that were found and exploited recently by hackers.
A recent example is the DAO hack and further Denial of Services (DoS) attacks that exploited limitations in some EVM opcodes.
A model
A transaction family is created by decomposing the logic layer into a set of rules and a composition layer for a specific domain.
The key idea is that business logic is composed within transaction families, which provides a more secure and powerful way to build smart contracts.
Why This Matters for Blockchain Technology
Transaction families contain the domain-specific rules and another layer that allows for creating transactions for that domain.
Another way of looking at it is that transaction families are a combination of a data model and a transaction language that implements a logic layer for a specific domain.
The data model represents the current state of the blockchain (ledger) whereas the transaction language modifies the state of the ledger.
It is expected that users will build their own transaction families according to their business requirements.
Key Points to Remember
- Transaction families A traditional smart contract paradigm provides a solution that is based on a general-purpose instruction set for all domains.
- For example, in the case of Ethereum, a set of opcodes has been developed for the EVM that can be used to build smart contracts to address any type of requirements for any industry.
- While this model has its merits, it is becoming clear that this approach is not very secure as it provides a single interface into the ledger with a powerful and expressive language, which potentially offers a larger attack surface for malicious code.
- This complexity and generic virtual machine paradigm have resulted in several vulnerabilities that were found and exploited recently by hackers.
Going Deeper: Advanced Concepts
The following diagram represents this model, where each specific domain, like financial services, digital rights management (DRM), supply chain, and the health industry, has its own logic layer comprised of operations and services specific to that domain.
This makes the logic layer both restrictive and powerful at the same time.
Transaction families ensure that operations related to only the required domain are present in the control logic, thus removing the possibility of executing needless, arbitrary and potentially harmful operations:
Conclusion
Transaction families represents one of the many innovative layers that make blockchain technology so powerful and transformative. As distributed systems continue to evolve, a solid understanding of these core concepts becomes increasingly valuable — not just for developers, but for anyone building, investing in, or working alongside blockchain-powered systems.
Whether you are just starting your blockchain journey or deepening existing expertise, mastering these fundamentals gives you the tools to think clearly about decentralized systems and make smarter decisions in this rapidly evolving space.