Enhancing the Sui Ecosystem with Space and Time's Proof of SQL

In order to realize the promise of Web3, there must be a way to provide all the capabilities of current web infrastructure without breaking the zero-trust model of blockchain infrastructure. The ability to function without having to rely on a third-party intermediary is a fundamental philosophy as well as the benefit of blockchain technology as it can increase security and efficiency while lowering costs. However, due to inherent limitations around storage and scalability, blockchains have always relied upon external infrastructure solutions to supplement their capabilities.

Even fairly simple use cases for blockchain, like NFTs, have historically relied on web infrastructure in some form. In 2021, at the height of the Bored Ape craze, most NFT projects were simply storing the data associated with the smart contract on a centralized server like Amazon’s S3. Though far more efficient than storing onchain, this solution presents a glaring problem: if an Amazon admin deletes a table, your ape is gone. Decentralized storage solutions, like Filecoin, emerged as an answer, but they haven’t proven to be the silver bullet either. Although it offers more resilience than a typical web server, Filecoin is fairly static and can’t be used for things beyond storage. Better solutions are needed.

Today, we’re excited to announce that Space and Time is available to the Sui Ecosystem. This will allow developers to take advantage of Space and Time’s innovative Proof of SQL technology. Proof of SQL will allow app developers to access more robust offchain data about their users without compromising user privacy, and will enable SxT to offer a third-party solution for encrypting and storing salts more efficiently and securely. 

Space and Time and Proof of SQL

Space and Time (SxT) is the verifiable compute layer for Web3. It comes pre-packaged with a full stack of ZK developer tools—including a decentralized data warehouse, indexed blockchain data from Sui and other major chains, an API gateway with built-in Kafka streaming, a next-gen AI frontend, and Proof of SQL.

Proof of SQL is the novel ZK proof embedded in SxT that ensures tamperproof computations at scale and proves that query results haven’t been manipulated. Proof of SQL enables a developer to run queries against onchain and offchain data in SxT, verify the result with a ZK proof, and connect it back to smart contracts on Sui to build more data-driven protocols powered by scalable, offchain compute. 

What Proof of SQL enables for Sui Developers 

Proof of SQL allows developers to build more data-driven dapps and protocols by connecting smart contracts to verifiable offchain data and compute. This connection has three key benefits.

Secure and provable management of private user data

Space and Time can hold additional private, encrypted data about a user’s offchain activity and prove it back to apps on Sui. For example, imagine you’re using Sui to access a lending protocol on Sui with your Facebook account, and that lending protocol offers better rates if it can verify your credit score is above 700. While your score is tied to your Facebook account via FICO, you might be apprehensive about broadcasting it onchain. Instead of directly transmitting your credit score, you can authorize its secure storage in SxT, where it remains private and encrypted and Proof of SQL proves that your score is above 700 without revealing the score itself. The lending protocol can access the data needed to provide you with a better loan without your onchain privacy.

Joining in-app activity with onchain transactions

Space and Time provides developers with a seamless way to join offchain user activity with onchain transactions. For example, take a game on Sui where a player gets an onchain reward when they reach the ‘gold tier.’ Instead of logging each status progression onchain (which is inefficient and costly), the game records it offchain in a SxT table. When a player achieves the gold tier, the game communicates the achievement and associated session to SxT. In response, SxT sends the status, along with a proof, to a smart contract onchain to mint the reward to the player’s wallet. For players not currently managing their onchain assets, games can hold these rewards in a trustless and provable way in SxT. When players decide to take custody, they can simply use their credentials, and SxT proves that the assets were held appropriately and not manipulated before transfer.

Encrypting and storing salts

Space and Time can also offer developers a third-party solution for encrypting and storing salts. In order to sign a transaction on Sui with a web credential, you need a salt—a type of token that authorizes access to a given account—that isn’t managed by the web service. This token essentially provides 2-factor authentication to ensure that a hacker that compromises your web account can’t transact from your corresponding Sui account. SxT can generate and store these salts, so that an app using Sui can easily request it when needed, along with a ZK proof generated by Proof of SQL that confirms its authenticity and proves that it wasn’t manipulated. 

A more robust Sui ecosystem 

By leveraging the Space and Time decentralized data warehouse and Proof of SQL, app developers using the Sui ecosystem  are empowered with secure and private offchain data and compute. The integration enhances the user and developer experience on Sui, bridging the gap between security and privacy attributes of blockchain.