The development of information technologies has introduced the latest ways of automated execution of business contracts in the field of insurance, one of which is the smart contract. First proposed by Nick Szabo in 1996, it is a form of computer code written in a decentralized network, aimed to automatically fulfil contractual obligations. As of today, smart contracts are used in various fields, including agriculture, chain delivery, internal business relations. Simultaneously, as international research papers show, the field of insurance is one of the most promising for the harmonic integration of smart contracts, taking into account the possibilities of Internet of Things and, which is not less important, artificial intelligence. In view of this, we identified a need to analyze the legislation of Ukraine for the possibility of legal smart contract operation as a full-fledged substitute for a business contract and to find any legal ways to use smart-contract in cooperation with conventional forms of agreements.

Accordingly, the purpose of this study was to analyze the current legislation of Ukraine on the possibility of using a smart contract as a full-fledged substitute for a business contract in the field of insurance and, in case of a negative conclusion, to search alternative ways of its legal use.

This paper presents the main characteristics of a smart contract and examples of its actual use in the field of insurance (works aimed at developing new ways to use smart contracts in the field of insurance were also presented). Indicators of the positive impact of the integration of smart contracts in the field of insurance were demonstrated. As we discovered form legal perspective, smart contract can meet the basic requirements for the form and content of a business contract in the field of insurance. At the same time, some formal requirements to insurance contracts, such as the need to use a qualified electronic signature; to establish and execute the contract only in hryvnia (national currency of Ukraine); required possibility to be amended or canceled under agreed terms – cannot be met by a smart contract according to its current stage of development. In view of this, we proposed a legal way to use a smart contract as a mean of securing the fulfillment of a business obligations, which is justified from a legislative perspective. It was found that the legislation of Ukraine does not contain an exhaustive list of means of securing the fulfillment of a business obligations. Accordingly, the use of alternatives not expressly provided by law is permitted, provided that there are no relevant prohibitions. Relevant case-law was also provided, confirming the possibility of using alternative, not directly provided by legislation, means of securing the fulfillment of a business obligations, including smart contracts.

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