Introduction

The past few years have seen the rapid growth of the blockchain industry. However, the innovative technology still faces issues with accessing and processing large data sets needed to create platforms like lending protocols that offer lending rates according to the user’s credit score.

To solve this issue, Space and Time (SXT) was developed to change how businesses, users, and developers handle, transport, and store data, providing utility and facilitating development.

What is Space and Time?

Source: Official Site

Space and Time is a platform designed to provide smart contracts with decentralized data processing, allowing them to process data on different nodes rather than a single central authority.

It achieves this through its model architecture that involves scaling zero-knowledge proofs (ZK-Proofs) on a decentralized warehouse, distributing data to different nodes rather than a central location.

This allows developers to build data-driven applications in a completely trustless environment, with access to comprehensive blockchain data gathered from several other chains.

The platform developed the Proof of SQL, a novel ZK-proof as a sub-second ZK coprocessor. It allows the smart contract to question its chain and other chains about certain transactions and receive ZK-proven responses in the next block.

Space and Time (SXT) ushers users into a new world of smart contracts that combine on-chain and off-chain data to offer users a more robust economy and enhanced on-chain applications with more possibilities.

History of Space and Time

Space and Time was co-founded in 2022 by Nate Holiday, Scott Dykstra, Jay White, and Craig Holiday. Since its launch, it has gone through three funding stages, raising over $50 million from high-level investors such as Framework Ventures, Lightspeed Faction, Arrington Capital, and Hivemind Capital.

How Does Space and Time Work?

Source: docs

Space and Time is created with a dual-layer architecture comprising the Validator Layer and a Data Warehouse. These layers work hand-in-hand to ensure easy and safe queries against on-chain and off-chain data. The Validator helps enable communication between databases’ networks, and computer clusters in the database warehouse.

The database node operator is in charge of each network cluster, controlling them permissionlessly while controlling the connectivity, availability, and usability of the database’s cluster. The validator, on the other hand, manages, commands, and verifies the tasks performed by these clusters, controlling the flow of data and queries between end users and the data warehouse clusters.

While these two layers work together to ensure the platform’s success, they perform distinct tasks within each layer.

Source: Official Site

Data Warehouse

The Data Warehouse serves as the backbone of the Space and Time platform. It operates on a decentralized, Web3-native hybrid transactional/analytical processing (HTAP) engine, enabling trustless, scalable, and efficient performance for various data sets. It consists of multiple network clusters that the operator manages in a permissionless manner.

These clusters perform five major tasks on data for the platform:

• Data Ingestion: The clusters are in charge of saving data obtained off-chain from popular blockchains and networks.
• Data Transportation: This involves transporting data from one to another.
• Data Storage: This involves saving data in the warehouse from any point in time.
• Data Transformation: Here, the network clusters take part in data cleaning, data aggregations, and multi-source data joins.
• Data Serving: The network clusters ensure easy and functional access to data, intelligent caching, and the creation of data APIs.

These tasks are possible through Hybrid Transactional/Analytical processing (HTAP), which ensures good workload management through a system that adapts to execute whatever workload it is tasked to process. This is a perfect engine for Space and Time as it allows the warehouse nodes to handle high-speed data ingestion and large-scale data aggregation of over a terabyte efficiently.

Validator

This can be referred to as the central nervous system of the Space and Time protocol, offering different microservices to ensure the platform runs smoothly. The roles of the Validator are split into the following:

• Routing: Routing is in charge of linking transactions and queries with decentralized warehouse networks and linking users to their data. Users interact with the system as if it is connected to a single always-available network cluster. Requests are automatically directed to the appropriate data warehouse instance, effectively handling data distribution and any potential failures in the background.
• Streaming: Streaming takes charge of high-volume event-driven workloads through Kafka for its durability and fault tolerance. With this, user data can stream into the network and be merged easily with already stored data.
• Consensus: Consensus employs Byzantine fault tolerance to maintain data integrity for information that enters and exits the platform. Data is submitted to the platform by the Redundant TL processes, and Validators then reach agreement to produce a single output. Through Consensus, the platform safeguards critical data from errors or malicious activities, ensuring its integrity remains intact.
• Query Proofing: The platform ensures tamperproof SQL queries through Query Proofing. Once data is inserted, query proofing generates a digital fingerprint (hash). When a user requests a secure query, the database calculates the results and generates a cryptographic proof. This proof is then sent back to the database, where it is verified against the digital fingerprint through SxT’s Proof of SQL.

Additionally, Query Proofing works seamlessly with Consensus, providing verified proof redundantly to the Consensus system. This mechanism helps guard against malicious actions by verifiers and ensures that query execution remains tamperproof from start to finish.

• Table Anchoring: Table Anchoring ensures proof of storage on the platform by anchoring tables on-chain. It updates a Merkle tree every time data is added to the platform. This enables validators to audit data warehouse clusters without transmitting large volumes of data.

Through Table Anchoring, the platform can perform cyclical self-auditing. This is possible because root hashes are anchored to the chain through smart contracts to trigger events, enabling the Space and Time platform to verify data securely.

Features of Space and Time

Along with its complex and multi-layered architecture, Space and Time also includes several features to ensure the best services for its users. Some of these features include:

Proof of SQL (Novel Sub-second ZK)

The platform also uses SQL, the most popular data query language, to ensure a user-friendly building experience for developers building data-focused applications. This, in turn, makes the platform able to handle more complex data processing tasks, not just simple data retrievals.

Two main roles are performed with the Proof of SQL: the client sends the query (Verifier), and the database service calculates the result (Prover). While the Verifier normally sends a query, it can also send a trusted entity, like a smart contract. This works perfectly for applications with limited storage that also need to ensure data analytics is done correctly, without the data being tampered with.

The Verifier and Prover interact with each other in two distinct ways: Data Ingestion and Query Request. With Data Ingestion, the process involves a client submitting data for database inclusion. The data is sent to the verifier, which generates a commitment with enough information needed to curb information tampering around the protocol.

Source: docs

Once this process is completed, the Verifier forwards the data to the database storage while keeping the commitment for future use.

The second way they interact is through query requests, which happen when the Verifier seeks data analytics on data stored by the Prover. The service, client, or verifier initiates a query request sent to the Prover, who parses the query, compiles the results, and generates a proof along with the verifier results, maintaining commitment. The verifier, through the proof and commitment, can now verify the Prover’s result against the query request.

Source: docs

SXT Chain

The SXT Chain is a ZK-proven data blockchain for developers, Node operators, investors, or community members. It is a testnet that allows users to push the boundaries of what they can build, provide helpful feedback, and help enhance the platform to better its services, making it more reliable and speeding up its mainnet launch.

Decentralized Data Warehouse

The backbone of the Space and Time platform is its data warehouse, which utilizes a network of distributed nodes to ensure that the data submitted is reliable and not available anywhere else on the platform.

Blockchain Index

Source: docs

The decentralized nature of blockchain data means that data is distributed across different nodes without an in-built way to query this data. Space and Time solves this problem by reading the data from all blockchains, decoding it, and writing it to relational database tables.

This process begins with querying individual blockchain archival nodes with RPC calls to attain real-time and historical blockchain data. The platform extracts finalized blockchain data by continuously polling real-time blocks from blockchain nodes, retrieving past blocks to build a complete historical record, and lastly, by decoding contract current data into a new table.

The next step is consensus. Here, the network validates blockchain data, eliminating the need for a middleman. Once validated, the processed data is sent to the data warehouse, where it can easily be queried.

Verified Blockchain Data

Source: Official Site

The Space and Time platform offers pre-built web3 APIs to devs, granting them access to hundreds of indexed real-time data derived from major chains like Ethereum, ZKsync, Bitcoin, Polygon, Sui, Aptos, and Sei. Paired with the sub-second ZK coprocessor, developers can build apps with trustless blockchain data and deliver query results through the platform’s integration with Chainlink.

Token Design

With Space and Time, developers can easily create their own tokens in minutes. They can dictate, adjust, and optimize the token’s utilities and distribution plan, prepare for potential market risks to ensure stability, and prepare clear and concise visual reports on tokenomics for investors and community members.

SXT Chain Ecosystem

The SXT chain is linked to a plethora of projects from different aspects of the industry. It cuts across DeFi, AI, gaming, social, infra, RWA, and many more, leading to a new era of dApps in the blockchain sector.

It currently supports projects like Ethereum mainnet, ZKsync Era, Bitcoin, Sui, Aptos, and Polygon.

Use Cases of Space and Time (SXT)

Space and Time (SXT) offers developers several ways to build and improve their products, creating more possibilities and providing more services to users and the ecosystem. By using the Space and Time platform, developers have access to the following services:

Sub-Second ZK Coprocessor

Developers can build smart contracts through the Space and Time platform that can ask data-driven questions about stored data from major on-chain and off-chain sources. This allows developers to deliver on-chain data to their smart contracts within block time.

On-chain App Development

With Space and Time (SXT), developers can deploy their app frontend and smart contract, then commit the other processes to the platform to take care of. Developers are able to build data-driven apps equipped with pre-built SQL APIs, deploy apps without managing the backend infrastructure themselves.

Space and Time (SXT) provides developers with pre-built Web3 APIs that power their apps with ZK-proven real-time blockchain data gathered from major blockchains. Developers can also merge their blockchain data with their developed platform data through a single query.

Developers can also publish their queries to custom-made dashboards and integrate them into their apps. Lastly, they can also build ML/AI models through tamper-proof data from off-chain and on-chain data sources.

DeFi/Lending

With Space and Time, developers can merge real-world user credit scores with on-chain transactions to build a new Web3 credit score system for decentralized lending platforms.

Gaming and NFTs

With Space and Time, developers can develop apps with enhanced gameplay and optimized on-chain earnings. This is possible through on-chain transactions/activities generated in-game and advanced analytics on community behavior, granting developers more information on in-game activities that led to on-chain transactions.

Developers can also power their games with speedy transactions, quickly analyze terabytes of data, use smart contracts to query Space and Time directly, and mint rewards earned from in-game events.

News on Space and Time

On August 27th, Space and Time Labs announced that they had secured $20 million in Series A funding, bringing the total funding for the platform to $50 million. The funding was amassed from reputable investors such as Framework Ventures, Lightspeed Faction, Arrington Capital, and Hivemind Capital.

Is Space and Time a Good Investment?

Being a Web3 decentralized data warehouse, Space and Time blends the best of on-chain and off-chain data, changing how users, developers, and decentralized apps handle data. Its unique architecture and integration of Proof of SQL open the doors to many new use cases of blockchain technology.