Ethereum researcher unveils ‘time machine’ for even smarter, smart contracts

A “time machine” that allows Ethereum users to reverse “Smart Transactions” on the blockchain has been created by Ethereum researcher and Smart Transactions (STXN) co-founder Vlad Zamfir — which now makes certain transactions less immutable.

The Smart Transactions also allow users to set specific conditions for transaction timing and execution, STXN’s co-founder Anuj Das Gupta told Cointelegraph at the DevCon conference in Bangkok.

“STXN is like a time machine because it allows us to guarantee the future when it comes to smart contracts,” Das Gupta said in a statement shared with Cointelegraph.

The feature will be supported on Ethereum Virtual Machine-compatible blockchains and could come in handy for the thousands of crypto users who fat finger transactions onchain.

“Ethereum smart contracts are no longer limited by what was known at the time they were written, Das Gupta said. “We believe this is an important solution to the tension between flexibility and immutability when it comes to blockchains.”

STXN’s newly-appointed CEO, Boris Mamlyuk, compared blockchain immutability to when internet users started sending emails in the late 1900s — once a message was sent, it wasn’t possible to unsend it.

But then Google’s Gmail made an “undo toggle,” giving a short window to unsend an email which “unlocked a bunch more utility and opportunity,” Mamlyuk said.

Smart Transactions aim to solve that problem in Web3, Das Gupta added.

“It allows us to time travel forward, backward in the transaction sequencing flow, opening up a lot more utility, just like that unsend button,” he explained.

STXN is building this time machine feature into “CleanApp” — founded by Mamlyuk in 2013 — an app to report an opportunity to clean something for others to complete in exchange for blockchain rewards.

Mamlyuk said transactions will be reverted when malicious actors are caught.

“If there’s malicious use of the app, we can go back and claw back the blockchain rewards that somebody got as a result of malicious use. So it’s a force multiplier. It opens up utility.”

STXN is looking to integrate this time machine feature into other match-making applications, such as a decentralized Uber.

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Decentralized exchanges like Uniswap have this match-matching feature, but it only supports swaps, Das Gupta noted.

STXN’s role is to build the infrastructure that allows users to build match-making applications on top of.

Das Gupta and Mamlyuk want STXN to support all kinds of decentralized match-making applications. 

The announcement follows STXN’s partnership with Ethereum infrastructure firm Consensys back in July.

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