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Karak integrates Space and Time as a zero-knowledge (ZK) co-processor solution.
This aims to improve the slashing and rewards system on Karak’s DSS.
Space and Time will also build a DSS on Karak for blockchain indexing.
Announced Wednesday, the universal security layer Karak will integrate Space and Time (SxT), a verifiable compute layer using ZK technology, as a ZK co-processor solution to power trustless slashing and rewards for Karak Distributed Secure Services (DSS). Built on Karak, the DSS service leverages restaked assets to provide universal security to platforms and decentralized applications (DApps) that use its services.
The distributed secure services framework aims to improve security – especially for new DApps and blockchain platforms – by providing a flexible, extensible and scalable universal security layer for a wide range of platforms. One of the most important pieces in providing universal security for Karak is the on-chain slashing and rewarding mechanisms. Through the partnership with SxT, Karak will be able to leverage the former’s ZK technology allowing for slashing logic to be defined much faster.
Space and Time is a verifiable compute layer that leverages AI and SQl to scale zero-knowledge proofs on a decentralized warehouse. This delivers trustless data processing to users, enabling easy indexing by smart contracts, LLMs, and enterprises. The platform amalgamates indexed blockchain data on multiple blockchains with off-chain data to ensure a trustless and secure transfer of correct information. This is guaranteed via its novel proof of SQL technology that ensures tamperproof computations at scale and proves that query results haven’t been manipulated.
The partnership with Karak will allow the universal security layer to ensure slashing and reward results haven’t been manipulated, enhancing security and trustlessness on the platform. As part of the partnership, SxT will also build a DSS for its blockchain indexing service, improving the effectivenmess of indexing nodes within its network. Additionally, bulding a DSS will enhance decentralized data indexing which require the highest levels of security, incentive alignment, and decentralization.
According to a tream statement, the strategic collaboration between the two companies “will push the boundaries of security and efficiency”. Karak willl accelerate its universal security properties while Space and Time’s capabilities extended to indexing data for other DSSs as well.
Smart contracts can query blockchain data using SQL statements that can be validated on-chain with zero-knowledge (ZK) proofs. SxT’s proof of SQL ensures that the data queried is not manipulated and is trustless. The partnership with Karak will see the two build a decentralized verifiable compute network that ensures this is the case for slashing and rewards on Karak.
The decentralized verifiable compute network will include three major participants – a Relayer Contract on Karak, Operators, and Provers (on the SxT network). The Relayer Contract will recieve the SQL query requests, emit events for the operators and provers on SxT network, and verify and deliver query results. The Operators index onchain DSS activities (such as completed jobs) and monitors query job events, routing them to available prover operators within the Space and Time network. Finally, the Provers execute queries, generate ZK proofs, and send results back to the relayer contract.
The flow of the process from the relayer contract to the operators and provers is as follows (see diagram above):
First, the Karak slashing (or rewarding) contract calls the Space and Time relayer contract with the desired SQL statement it wants to verify. Secondly, the relayer contract emits an event containing the query job details and sends it to the operators. The SxT oprators, running ZK-compatible indexing nodes and deployed as a DSS, detect the query job emission on the source chain. Once the operators validate the event, the SxT network routes the job to an available operator in the Space and Time prover network (Step 4 on the diagram).
The operator executes the query, generates a ZK proof, and creates a cryptographic commitment on the queried data. Once secured, the queried data is sent by the operator back to the pace and Time relayer contract on the source chain via a relayed transaction. The relayer contract verifies the query result and delivers it to the original Karak slashing contract through a callback function. Once done, the Karak slashing contract determines how much to slash a certain DSS, improving the overall security and trustlessness of its platform.
