Data has always been the central concern since the early days of the Internet. Prolific problems associated with data accessibility, accuracy, management, and security have greatly intensified when the Internet transitions to its decentralized version – Web3.
Say you want to query something like, “Polygon wallets with a balance greater than $10,000.” To get this information, you would need to navigate several blockchain explorers, understand data structures, and decipher technical jargon.
Even if it works, there is no guarantee the resulting data will be usable or reliable.
What if it’s not working at all?
As you can imagine, Web3 data querying is just the tip of the iceberg. Beyond functionality, other critical concerns include turnaround time, data accuracy, security, and scalability.
One of the leading decentralized data analytics platforms that can tackle these challenges is Space and Time.
In this guide, we’ve covered everything that you need to know about Space and Time, such as the project’s background, its decentralized, peer-to-peer technology, key features, and the use cases.
Let’s start by getting an overview of what Space and Time is.
What is Space and Time?
Founded in 2022, Space and Time (S&T) is the first Web3-native, data warehouse for blockchain applications. The California-based project aims to build the next generation data platform, specifically designed for the demands of dApps, DeFi, and any project requiring powerful analytics.
Fully decentralized, Space and Time offers enterprise-grade SQL and APIs that empower seamless integration and analysis of on-chain and off-chain data, all in a single query.
The project offers multichain support, allowing users to seamlessly access and analyze data across multiple blockchains. In addition, the introduction of Proof of SQL Technology ensures not only the security of your data but also upholds its integrity and transparency, all without compromising on performance.
What sets S&T apart is the integration of enterprise-scale SQL and APIs. Users can effortlessly query and load data with familiar commands and tools. Designed with scalability and efficiency in mind, the platform excels in handling massive datasets and complex queries.
Whether you’re building a groundbreaking dApp, optimizing your DeFi strategy, or simply seeking deeper blockchain insights, Space and Time is your go-to destination.
Team, Partners, and Advisors
Space and Time is run by a diverse team of blockchain engineers, data scientists, cryptographers, software developers, and business executives. Nate Holiday, the company’s co-founder and CEO, has solid experience in software development, data engineering, and blockchain technology.
Scott Dykstra, co-founder and CTO of S&T, has deep technical background in distributed systems, cryptography, and data science.
In July 2022, the project raised $10 million in a seed funding round led by crypto investment firm Framework Ventures. In September 2022, Microsoft’s M12 announced a $20 million strategic investment in Space and Time.
Further solidifying its position in the Web3 data landscape, the company partnered with Polygon in October 2022 to provide scalable data infrastructure for the gaming ecosystem. Besides, S&L also works with industry leaders and tech giants such as Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, NVIDIA, Chainlink, Mysten Labs, and Sotero.
How Space and Time Works
S&T’s core technology is a hybrid transactional/analytic (HTAP) data warehouse that combines the best of both worlds: OLTP (Online Transactional Processing) and OLAP (Online Analytical Processing).
OLTP handles high-volume, real-time transactions with an in-memory cache for blazing-fast performance while OLAP analyzes massive datasets using column-based storage and GPU acceleration for efficient insights.
Now put aside the tech, here is the breakdown of how Space and Time works: data acquisition, off-chain processing, data validation, and on-chain delivery.
First, the system acquires data from various sources, including blockchains, dApps, database, or APIs using Chainlink and other sources. Next, it pre-processes the data off-chain using its high-performance database. This approach helps to avoid expensive on-chain fees and slow speeds.
After completing the off-chain processing, the processed data undergoes rigorous validation in a separate layer to ensure accuracy and integrity. Only after validation is the data sent back to the blockchain and made available to the requesting smart contract.
Finally, the smart contract can now access the verified and processed data and use it for its intended purpose.
Key Features of Space and Time
AI SQL
AI Prompt-to-SQL is the technique that allows for converting natural language prompts into SQL queries. Powered by AI, S&T’s AI SQL aims to streamline data engineering across diverse roles.
This feature makes SQL accessible to non-programmers. Users who do not have experience with SQL can still generate queries by using natural language prompts. Prompt-to-SQL can save users time while improving efficiency by automatically generating the SQL code they need.
With the ability to generate code in seconds, users can craft queries using natural language SQL or Python scripts, such as “show me all Polygon wallets with a balance greater than $10,000.”
Additionally, the platform offers tamperproof query result publishing to APIs, dashboards, and ML/AI models with just a click, ensuring flexibility and efficiency in data management.
Not only does AI SQL bring ease of use and flexibility, it can also deliver dynamic visuals. The scalable, low-cost analytic engine from Space and Time enables the customization of dashboards to reflect unique branding, featuring automatic charts and visualizations for a comprehensive data solution.
Proof of SQL Technology
Inspired by zk literature, S&T introduces Proof of SQL, a novel ZK-proof technology that guarantees the accuracy and tamper-proof nature of queries and underlying data. This approach allows your smart contracts to securely access and analyze data from various sources, including different blockchains and off-chain sources, in a completely trustless and verifiable way.
So how does Proof of SQL work? The technology works by dividing the system into two parts: verifier (validation layer) and prover (data warehouse).
When data is sent to the system, the verifier creates a “digest,” before it enters the database. This digest acts like a special code to identify and verify the data later.
When users submit queries to retrieve specific data, the prover receives the query, processes it, and retrieves the relevant data from the database. It also generates a proof of SQL for the data and then sends both the result and the proof of SQL to the verifier.
The verifier then uses the digest to check the proof against the result. If the proof is valid, the data is considered trustworthy and sent to the user with a tamperproof success flag. If the proof is invalid, the verifier sends a failure message to the user.
Web3 Data APIs
Space and Time unlocks access to on-chain and off-chain data, including blockchain data, smart contracts, application data, and centralized databases. All indexed data is real-time.
A number of chains have been integrated into the S&T app are Ethereum, Polygon, Avalanche, Sui, and Sei. The project plans to extend support to Bitcoin, Aptos, ZKSync, and Base in the future.
S&T data APIs can be used to analyze data for a variety of purposes like market research, fraud detection, operational insights into blockchain-based applications and infrastructure, to name a few.
For instance, a DeFi developer can use S&T to analyze market trends and build a trading bot. Meanwhile, a game developer can use S&T to track player activity and improve their game. Or a data scientist can use S&T to analyze blockchain data and identify new investment opportunities.
Conclusion
S&T provides a unique and powerful solution for building in the Web3 space. Its combination of performance, flexibility, and security makes it a valuable tool for developers and businesses looking to leverage the power of decentralized data for their applications.
