It’s proving to be a productive week for Space and Time (SxT), the Microsoft-funded web3 startup specializing in ZK proofs. It’s just released v2.0 of its whitepaper, which expands on the vision of its Proof of SQL protocol and, more importantly, its mainnet is now live. Its team is ebullient, confidently predicting that its sub-second ZK coprocessor is about to make smart contracts great. New Network, Whodis? The Space and Time brand is already well known within web3, since its team has been working away on its Proof of SQL solution for over two years now. While the mainnet launch is a milestone event, it effectively formalizes the work Space and Time has been doing up until now. What the mainnet does is provide a decentralized layer on which all of SxT’s tech can sit, giving devs access to cryptographic proofs for data that scales.There’s a lot going on under the hood with SxT’s network, so much so that even lead contributor Scott Dykstra’s tl;dr on the topic runs to several hundred words. The tl;dr of his tl;dr, though, goes something like this: SxT’s network delivers data at lightning-fast speed to smart contracts – complete with proof that the data hasn’t been tampered with en route. Smart contracts then execute decisions based on that data and include it within the next block. The longer form version of what Space and Time does can be found in its new whitepaper , which runs to 44 dense pages. This isn’t dense jargon for the sake of being smart, however: it’s detailed proof of Space and Time’s, well, proofs. In essence, smart contracts are unable to natively process data. SxT does this for them, spitting out the result in the form of a lightweight ZK proof. As a result, the document notes, “SXT Chain is ushering in a new era of data-rich smart contracts.” Sergey Bigs Up Space and Time One crypto luminary who’s big on Space and Time is Sergey Nazarov of Chainlink fame. As he reasons, “Smart contracts need context to make decisions, whether it’s real-time market data, cross-chain messaging or historical onchain activity. Chainlink provides the connective tissue for data to move securely across systems, and Space and Time brings powerful new compute capabilities that complement that vision.”That’s about as good an elevator pitch of SxT as you’re gonna get. It’s no secret that the next generation of decentralized applications will all be packing AI, some overtly and others covertly. It’s also no secret that AI consumes vast amounts of computational resources for processing. This is why Space and Time has an outsized chance of succeeding in the race to scale web3 by making smart contracts smarter, faster, and capable of drawing data from a rich array of sources. While devs are the target market for Space and Time’s tech, there’s also opportunities for validators to get involved now that its mainnet is live. Anyone can participate, be it through supplying quality datasets, staking, or operating a node. On the coal face of web3, there’s still plenty of honest work to be done and rewards to be earned. On the consumer-side, meanwhile, up on the surface, there’s a panoply of ever more sophisticated applications to await that will make the current crop of dapps look like obsolete tech. The future of onchain applications is imminent and data-rich. Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.