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Today, when reading Lannquist,2020, p.7, I saw the second hyphen "-" but I do not understand what the author wants to imply.

“smart‑contract”‑driven wholesale CBDC applications
(e.g. “atomic swaps and securities transactions”).

So, in this case, does the second hyphen mean that driven wholesale CBDC applications are an alternative name of "smart-contract"?

gotube
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Phil Nguyen
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    There are two hyphens in your quote. Do you mean the second? – gotube Nov 21 '21 at 05:50
  • yes, the second one – Phil Nguyen Nov 21 '21 at 09:39
  • "smart-contract" is one word. A rather pretentious word, that makes claims to its quality by its very structure. Almost as bad as naming myself "brilliant-scientist goodleader PcMan", when I am neither brilliant nor a leader. – PcMan Nov 22 '21 at 07:35

1 Answers1

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The author is saying that the wholesale CDBC applications are driven by smart-contracts -- implying that the smart-contracts are integral to the working of these applications. The hyphen connects the words to show that they are part of the same concept or thing.

Mordred
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  • The hyphen between "smart-contract" and "driven" is not extraneous at all. Replace "smart contract" with any other single-word term and you see that the hyphen is quite necessary (as I demonstrated there). The hyphen between "smart" and "contract" is more questionable but I tend to use it. – randomhead Nov 22 '21 at 04:16
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    @randomhead On further reflection you are correct since the phrasal adjective (driven) proceeds the noun (wholesale CDBC applications). I've edited my answer accordingly. It just looks really weird given that "smart-contracts" is surrounded by quotes. – Mordred Nov 22 '21 at 06:30
  • @Mordred The problem is that "smart-contract" is used as a single word. It is not merely a "smart contract", although it is almost certainly derived from that. – PcMan Nov 22 '21 at 06:42
  • @PcMan Right, but that doesn't explain why it's quoted in that context. smart-contract-driven would seem to make more sense. – Mordred Nov 22 '21 at 07:08
  • @Mordred Because "smart-contract-driven" can easily be misinterpreted as "smart contract-driven" which has a different meaning. – PcMan Nov 22 '21 at 07:24