Launch HN: Hedgehog (YC S21) – Cryptocurrency Portfolio Manager
&gt; Price and volatility aside, if we simply could have used a smart contract where money is automatically deposited upon project completion, we would have ensured payment.<p>A smart contract doesn&#x27;t allow you to do that though, so I&#x27;m not sure how much you thought this through, or if you&#x27;re only writing about your initial impression and dismissing what you learned after (I do think you realize this, as most people do after a few weeks of experience with Ethereum).<p>Either the smart contract would have automatically transferred money after a period of time, in which case it&#x27;s basically like paying in advance. Or the smart contract would have received some external information, either from the consulting company, the client, a 3rd-party or a combination thereof, to decide whether the project has been completed or not. At that point, you&#x27;re back to the problem you had without Ethereum.