Space and Time, a blockchain data company backed by Microsoft’s venture fund M12, has launched an enterprise product that lets businesses use private records in AI workflows without giving up the underlying data. The company announced the platform on Monday.
The product, Space and Time Enterprise, is meant to prove that calculations run on private data are correct. That way AI applications, auditors and other parties can check results without getting direct access to the database. Launch partners include Maple Finance, Indomobil, Trenez and The Data Foundation.
Why private data access matters
Businesses want AI agents to carry out tasks using sensitive records, but they do not want those agents to have open access to everything behind a calculation. Nate Holiday, CEO of MakeInfinite Labs, the original developer of Space and Time, said the risk can reach the value of the business itself. Giving AI tools unrestricted access creates another path for exposure, he said.
Holiday said customers in construction, engineering and manufacturing are rebuilding systems around AI. They want agents, reporting tools and compliance teams to work from the same records and verify the calculations they depend on.
Proof of SQL and deployment options
The platform runs on Proof of SQL, Space and Time’s patented method for proving that database queries were computed correctly. It already works with Google Cloud’s BigQuery. Businesses can now run it on their own servers without operating a blockchain, buying specialized hardware or using an outside proving service, according to the company.
With GPU acceleration, supported queries over millions of rows can be run and proven in under a second, Holiday said. Actual performance depends on the query, hardware and dataset. The technology can show that a calculation was performed correctly on a set of records. It cannot confirm that the records were accurate in the first place.
An incorrect entry still needs to be caught through a business’s data controls, Holiday said. Verification gives those controls evidence of which data was used and whether it was processed correctly.
SXT token and Microsoft ties
Space and Time raised $20 million in 2022 in a strategic round led by M12. Last year, Grayscale launched a trust giving investors exposure to SXT, the token that powers Space and Time’s blockchain. Earlier this year, the company launched Dreamspace, an AI tool built with Microsoft’s Azure AI services that lets users create and deploy onchain apps without code.
Space and Time also runs SXT Chain, a decentralized network that supplies verifiable data to DeFi, tokenized assets and stablecoins. Asked whether enterprise customers would create demand for SXT, Holiday said businesses can deploy the product in their own environment. The network comes into play as applications need to connect to onchain markets, with those workloads paid for through Space and Time.
Microsoft’s Nova project includes Blitzar, Space and Time’s cryptographic acceleration library. The team’s work on a commitment scheme called Dory also contributed to a16z crypto’s Jolt proof system, Holiday said.
