I Lent My Best Friend $15,000. He Said He'd Pay It Back by Year-End. Now He Pretends He Doesn't Remember.

Gary and I have been best friends since childhood. Last year, when he started a business and was short on cash, he asked to borrow $15,000 from me. Without a second thought, I transferred him the money I had been saving for a car.

At the coffee shop, he beat his chest and promised me, "Bro, consider this a loan. I'll definitely pay you back with interest by the end of the year!" We didn't sign any written contract at the time because I felt our twenty-year friendship was more reliable than any piece of paper.

I was wrong.

By the end of the year, his company was on the right track, but what I got wasn't his repayment, but his silence. When I cautiously brought it up on chat, his reply struck me like lightning. First, he said he was tight on cash and would talk about it later. After I pressed him again, he flatly said, "Didn't we agree that this money was your 'investment' in me? We never said it was a 'loan'."

I dug up our chat history, but the word "loan" was indeed never explicitly written. The verbal promise made in the coffee shop had become an unprovable "bad debt." Our friendship was completely shattered over this $15,000. I not only potentially lost the money but, more importantly, a friend I once trusted most.

This incident plunged me into deep self-doubt. Is a verbal promise really so fragile in the face of human nature?

Later, I watched a video by a legal tech blogger who mentioned an application called a "simple smart contract." He said that for small loans between friends, there could be a more dignified and clearer way in the future.

For example, at the time, I could have initiated a "loan contract" to Gary through a DApp:

• Contract details: "I, lend 100,000 units to Gary, to be repaid in principal with 2% interest by December 31, 2024."
• Then I would send this contract to Gary. He would only need to click "Agree" on his phone to complete a "digital signature" confirmation.

This simple contract, along with our digital signatures, would be immediately packaged into an immutable transaction and permanently recorded on a public ledger. Unlike a paper contract that can be lost or denied, it would become an "ironclad proof" that no one could default on. I learned that some payment tools, like BlockATM, are working to make this kind of "programmable agreement" as simple as sending a message, allowing ordinary people to easily create and execute such legally binding, transparent agreements.

If I had spent an extra minute back then to handle our agreement this way, perhaps today, we would still be good brothers sharing a drink, not a creditor and a deadbeat who have turned against each other. This isn't about distrust; it's precisely about protecting trust.

Have you ever suffered a loss because of a "verbal agreement"? In agreements between acquaintances, do you think replacing a verbal promise with a clear, immutable "digital contract" would hurt the relationship or better protect it?