Space and Time (SxT) is a data infrastructure developed for the Web3 world. It is a fully decentralized and community-operated hybrid business database and analytics data warehouse.

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Why are databases necessary in the encrypted world?

In the Web2 world, the use of databases by programs is ubiquitous and indispensable. Although the blockchain has powerful features such as decentralization and non-tampering, it cannot perform the same functions as a database. It is difficult for people to implement some high-concurrency, frequent read and write services on the blockchain.

On the one hand, the lack of TPS inherently limits the frequent reading and writing of data. On the other hand, the non-tamperable and non-deletable characteristics of the blockchain are also doomed to run all business data on the blockchain, which will accumulate a large amount of redundant data and invalid data will cause waste of resources. In the end, even if there is a project party that puts all the complex business data on the chain, it is difficult to pay the high gas cost.

Many practitioners once believed that smart contracts and blockchains would take over the computing power of the entire encrypted world. But with the development of practice, we found that not all applications can run completely on Ethereum (or other public chains).Smart contracts are just a technical component of the application. In addition to decentralized computing, there are storage, database and other components, and many business logics are still carried out on centralized servers.

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How does "Proof of SQL" connect on-chain and off-chain data?

For most users, there is no need to repeat the disadvantages of centralized databases, such as the structure of single point control, privacy and security risks, public trust issues, etc. What is clear is that Web3 does not have mature data management tools.In current practice, the combination of Web2 and Web3 is still the mainstream solution.For example, asset data is uploaded to the chain, while some non-asset business data that requires a lot of calculations still use Web2 solutions.

And this hybrid solution can be said to be a compromise limited by specific technical conditions.

Space and Time is trying to build a decentralized data product. Space and Time creatively proposed "Proof of SQL", that is, "SQL proof". By combining data storage with decentralized SQL query, the controllability of data is realized, and the transparency and checkability of operations are guaranteed.

Specifically, Space and Time's database processes the requested data off-chain, and then transmits it to the verification layer for verification. The verified data is then sent back on-chain, and the smart contract requesting the data receives the result. The SQL proof model ensures that any evidence of tampering with query results is shown to the user, preventing malicious actors from manipulating the analysis.

This allows dApps to access large amounts of on-chain and off-chain data in a secure and low-cost manner, and feed data directly into smart contracts.And during transmission, Space and Time will also encrypt it end-to-end to protect data security.

Space and Time can not only store business data, but also serve as a data warehouse. At the heart of Space and Time is an ANSI-compliant SQL database. SQL is the most common programming language in database products. It has become an ANSI standard as early as 1986 and an International Organization for Standardization (ISO) standard in 1987. At present, almost all major relational database management systems support the SQL language, and SQL is also known as the general language standard for operating databases.

This also means that developers (especially large enterprises with huge businesses) do not need to change their technology stacks, can continue to use familiar SQL tools, and can use REST and GraphQL to submit API requests.The usage of Space and Time is no different from Web2's SQL database, which reduces the developer's cost.

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How can privacy and transparency coexist?

Different from the Web2 database, the decentralized Space and Time is not a single computing unit, but a logical entity composed of many computing units, which can be understood as a cluster of clusters. For Space and Time, a single cluster is scalable and decentralized, which means that anyone can expand the Space and Time network.

Space and Time is a decentralized mechanism for data services through SQL proofs, which provides a powerful, trustless, and scalable data solution for the industry. Anyone can become a node operator by joining the network. The goal of Space and Time is to build a decentralized, community-provided data network. Through the blockchain, users can encrypt and securely use, store and query data.

Unlike most Web3 projects that are completely transparent and queryable, Space and Time also provides a proprietary solution. For some enterprise customers, their sensitive data is not suitable for public storage. In this regard, enterprises can deploy their own private networks.

Space and Time allows enterprises to deploy their own clusters inside the private network and only provide services for intranet requests.And this does not prevent private clusters from being connected to multiple clusters. When needed, the cluster can still connect to and access external data. The transparency and visibility of Web3, despite its various advantages, is not suitable for the enterprise field. Space and Time leaves it up to companies to decide what data they can share with the community and what data must be extra protected.

Space and Time has partnered with Chainlink to accelerate the development and adoption of enterprise-grade Web3 analytics through Space and Time. Specifically, Space and Time provides developers with several powerful supports:

• Provides the ability to perform low-latency cached queries and large analytical jobs. Building dApps based on this product will have the ability to scale up to 10 TB of data and thousands of concurrent queries/requests.

• The ability to connect off-chain data to multiple L1 chains.

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Could enterprise use cases be the next growth point for Web3?

How does it open up wider use cases for Web3? Enterprise use cases are currently an area that Web3 is less involved in. For enterprise users, the amount of data processed by their applications is far greater than the current capacity on the chain.

Space and Time's mission is to make smart contracts more robust by using its novel cryptography to connect smart contracts with enterprise database functionality. Space and Time will allow business logic in centralized systems to be automated and connected directly to smart contracts.

September 27, 2022Space and Time Closes $20M Strategic Funding Led by Microsoft's M12 Fund, Blizzard Fund (Avalanche Ecological Fund), Polygon, Framework Ventures, HashKey, Foresight Ventures, SevenX Ventures, Stratos, Hash Global, CoinDCX and others participated in the investment.

Space and Time seeks to enable smart contracts to have a wide range of enterprise-grade use cases by connecting on-chain and off-chain data. Expanding the functionality of hybrid smart contracts, the platform will allow blockchain developers to build multi-chain Dapps and quickly generate analysis results in a decentralized, low-cost, and secure manner. Driven by higher data processing capabilities, what other previously unimagined use cases can Web3 bring us?