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In the rapidly evolving landscape of Web3, the need for efficient and secure data processing has never been more critical. Space and Time's Proof of SQL is a groundbreaking zero-knowledge circuit that addresses the limitations of smart contracts and paves the way for the next generation of Web3 applications.
The Problem with Web3
Smart contracts, the driving force behind valuable financial tools in Web3, lack the ability to access critical data and execute complex queries. This limitation is due to the fundamental inability of smart contracts to query data from the blockchain logs, as they can only access limited information such as wallet balances and current transaction details. For example, in the DeFi space, simple derivatives like options are absent onchain due to the restrictions of smart contracts, even though onchain perpetual futures have a significant volume. This is because perpetual futures execute simple logic without relying on external data, while options require data processing that smart contracts currently cannot handle.
Moreover, the lack of a query coprocessor in Web3 hinders the full realization of what dapps can achieve. In traditional SaaS, apps follow a three-step process of retrieving a query result, executing an action based on that result, and updating the state of the system. However, in Web3, the blockchain serves as the state management layer and smart contracts execute actions, but the query layer is missing, creating a significant gap.
Centralized solutions, such as connecting a SQL database to a smart contract through an oracle solution, are incompatible with Web3 as they go against the ethos of decentralization and introduce a single point of failure that jeopardizes the security of assets locked in smart contracts.
Current ZK solutions also have limitations, including being not scalable, fragmented, having an unfamiliar user experience, and not being built for queries. There is a call for a community-operated data warehouse that would return data sovereignty to users and ensure data is not manipulated.
The Solution: Decentralized Data Warehouse with Proof of SQL
Space and Time presents a solution in the form of a high-performance, tamperproof, and community-operated data warehouse loaded with comprehensive data from major blockchains, verified using ZK-proofs. The Proof of SQL protocol extends the security of Ethereum and other major L1s, L2s, or L3s/appchains to SQL databases, guaranteeing that the underlying requested data is tamperproof and that the query computations are executed accurately.
The design goals of this solution include being end-to-end trustless, verifiable onchain, providing a familiar and easy developer experience, supporting arbitrary computations, delivering low-latency results at terabyte-scale, and offering a comprehensive Web3 data experience.
The solution consists of three layers of user-operated nodes: Provers (Proof of SQL Nodes), Validators (Indexing Nodes), and Transaction Serving (Consensus Nodes). These nodes work together to ingest data, generate and verify proofs, and relay data to smart contracts.
The Proof of SQL protocol is designed to be extremely fast, developer-friendly, and capable of facilitating complex data processing. It involves a Verifier that sends queries and a Prover that executes them and generates proofs. The protocol ensures the integrity of the data and the correctness of the query execution.
Use Cases for the Next-Generation of Web3
Proof of SQL has a wide range of use cases in the next generation of Web3. It can be used to build flexible ZK-Rollup/L2 solutions, providing instant finality, data processing capabilities, and gas-minimized transactions. It can also enable secure bridges and multichain data backends, serving as a single source of truth for the real-time state of multiple blockchains.
In the context of dapps, Space and Time can act as a decentralized backend, allowing developers to build sophisticated, data-driven applications without sacrificing decentralization. It can also be applied in data-driven lending, cross-chain financial instruments, gaming rewards, Web3 social apps, settlement systems, third-party auditing, custodial digital assets, tokenization of real-world assets, transaction security, and liquidity pool rebalancing.
Deploying Proof of SQL in a Decentralized Network
In a decentralized network using Proof of SQL, the blockchain maintains and updates cryptographic commitments for each modified table. This ensures the integrity and verifiability of the data across the network.
The network effects of Space and Time's solution include competitive moats, network growth, and the ability to marry scale and provability. This leads to Proof of SQL becoming the database market standard and the ultimate cross-chain state proof.
In conclusion, Proof of SQL by Space and Time is a game-changer in the Web3 ecosystem, offering a seamless interface for data access, computation, and verification. It enables the development of more sophisticated, data-driven smart contracts and fulfills the vision of a more scalable, transparent, community-operated, and secure Web3.