Blockchain & Cryptocurrency Glossary

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Smart Contract Lifecycle

Pronunciation
[smahrt kon-trakt lyf-sahy-kuhl]
Analogy
The smart contract lifecycle is like a product lifecycle—from design, launch, updates, to end‑of‑life.
Definition
The stages a smart contract goes through from development and deployment to interaction, upgrade, and eventual deprecation.
Key Points Intro
Lifecycle stages include:
Key Points

Development & testing: Code, unit tests, and audits.

Deployment: Publishing bytecode to the blockchain.

Interaction: Users invoke contract functions.

Upgrade or deprecation: Migrate or disable obsolete contracts.

Example
A DeFi protocol develops v1 contracts, audits them, deploys to mainnet, then later migrates users to v2 via upgrade scripts.
Technical Deep Dive
Development uses frameworks (Hardhat, Truffle). Deployment scripts send create transactions. Interaction occurs via ABI‑encoded calls. Upgrade patterns include proxy contracts with delegatecall or contract migration via user‑triggered migrations.
Security Warning
Upgradable contracts introduce complexity and potential proxy vulnerabilities; follow secure proxy patterns (e.g., OpenZeppelin).
Caveat
Immutable contracts cannot be patched; plan for emergencies with kill switches.
Related Terms
Deployment
Proxy Pattern
ABI
Smart Contract Audit
Bytecode

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