Unveiled on March 31 at Hannover Messe 2025, the production version of Pontus-X, developed by deltaDAO AG, marks a major step forward for Europe’s digital sovereignty strategy.
Built on the Gaia-X framework and powered by Oasis Network’s privacy-preserving blockchain, Pontus-X is now the largest publicly available data space in Europe.
With over 180 onboarded institutions, including Airbus, OHB SE, and T-Systems, the platform is built for secure, compliant sharing and monetization of data and digital services across borders and industries.
The ecosystem supports more than 570 services across aerospace, manufacturing, mobility, AI, and agriculture.
Pontus-X leverages a federated approach to data sharing, emphasizing control, privacy, and interoperability. Features like Compute-to-Data allow algorithms to process information without exposing the underlying data, making it ideal for sensitive sectors such as defense and space.
To learn more about how this next-generation data space works under the hood, crypto.news spoke with both Oasis Network and Pontus-X leadership.
Our Q&A covers the technical foundations of confidential computing, how data access controls are managed, and why this platform could become the default stack for sovereign AI and data monetization across Europe.
A few key takeaways: Oasis shared how its Sapphire ParaTime uses hardware-level Trusted Execution Environments to protect data during processing, and deltaDAO explained how Pontus-X enables legally binding digital contracts that comply with evolving EU rules under the Data Act and MiCA.
Here’s our full Q&A with Oasis and Pontus-X.
Oasis Network
1. Oasis powers Pontus-X with its privacy-preserving blockchain. Why is confidential computing such a critical foundation for data spaces like this — and what specific privacy features are being used in the live deployment?
Confidential computing is essential for data spaces like Pontus-X because it allows organizations to share and monetize their data while maintaining control over sensitive information and intellectual property. Oasis provides confidentiality through Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs) via our Sapphire ParaTime, which enables encrypted network state and confidential smart contracts that protect data during processing. This approach gives enterprises the confidence to participate in data sharing ecosystems without exposing their raw data, making previously impossible cross-organization collaborations viable while still meeting strict European privacy and regulatory requirements.
2. The press release calls this a “secure, decentralized data ecosystem” powered by Oasis. For crypto-native builders, can you explain how data is secured during processing? Is confidentiality enforced at the hardware level (e.g., TEEs), smart contract level, or through cryptographic techniques?
Oasis secures data during processing primarily through hardware-level Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs) – specifically Intel SGX technology – which create secure enclaves where data is decrypted, processed, and re-encrypted without exposure to node operators. This TEE-based approach is complemented by our confidential smart contract layer on Sapphire, which enables developers to customize which aspects of state remain encrypted and which can be public, offering flexibility for different use cases.
3. This deployment puts Oasis at the center of Europe’s digital sovereignty stack. Strategically, do you see privacy-preserving blockchains like Oasis becoming a default infrastructure layer for sovereign data ecosystems? And how are you positioning Oasis in discussions with EU regulators and Gaia-X stakeholders?
We absolutely see privacy-preserving blockchains becoming the default infrastructure layer for sovereign data ecosystems, as they uniquely address the competing demands for data sharing, monetization, and control that are central to Europe’s digital sovereignty vision. Fundamentally, you can’t have free, and open collaboration onchain without privacy and security. But to answer the second part of your question, we aren’t regularly dealing directly with regulators on projects like this, Oasis is only the infra provider and everything is open source, so the compliance side of things is more on the dapp level.
4. How does Oasis handle permissioning and access control in data spaces like Pontus-X, where some services may require restricted access or need to comply with sector-specific rules (e.g., aerospace, defense)? Is this built into the smart contract layer or handled off-chain?
Oasis is the infra provider that enables the permissions and access controls that are enforced through smart contracts, but the policies are designed and implemented by Pontus-X.
5. Now that Pontus-X is live on Oasis mainnet, what are the next steps for deeper integration? Are there plans to extend functionality like cross-chain interoperability, native token payments, or smart contract templates tailored to sovereign data use cases?
Pontus-X going live on Oasis mainnet marks a significant milestone for the project bringing trustlessness, privacy and compliance in data and AI to production. The platform Pontus-X is built on offers a lot of flexibility in terms of cross-chain interoperability, custom gas tokens and smart contract design. Next steps are helping the deltaDAO team with further developments that will make it even easier for them to onboard new partners and meet their customers where they are.
6. Pontus-X emphasizes monetization of data, AI models, and digital services. Is Oasis being used to facilitate those payments on-chain — and if so, how are they handled in practice? Are stablecoins like EUROe involved, or is there a native token mechanism in place?
The monetization is of data, AI models and other services is done directly onchain between the parties so Oasis/Pontus-X infrastructure is used to facilitate those payments. As the project is still in its prototyping stage, a mock stablecoin token is used to help with the testing but the Pontus-X team is also already in conversations with digital EURO providers about integrations with the Oasis infrastructure that will be used for all the payments in the ecosystem.
Pontus-X/deltaDAO
1. You’re calling Pontus-X Europe’s largest publicly available data space to date. Can you walk us through what makes this the most expansive Gaia-X-based ecosystem in production — in terms of technical scale, cross-border interoperability, and the types of services currently live?
Technically, Pontus-X scales through 16 validators spanning multiple European countries, processing over 1.2 million validated transactions on its testnet before moving to production in February 2025. Its cross-border interoperability comes from connecting more than 15 initiatives, including five different Gaia-X lighthouse projects across industries via a collectively and democratically governed distributed ledger, eliminating traditional data-sharing barriers through standardized smart contracts and Compute-to-Data technology. Currently live services include Airbus’ Functional Simulation as a Service, RADIUSMEDIA’s Holowork AR solution for cleanrooms, aerospace supplier collaboration tools from ZARM Technik and itemis AG, Skywise Flight Analyzer, and the Digital Project Management Office – all operating in a production environment.
Pontus-X has been selected as a lighthouse project and is now part of the EU Blockchain Regulatory Sandbox. What kinds of legal or regulatory questions are you exploring there — and do you see this helping shape future rules around blockchain-based data monetization or AI-driven data usage in Europe?
The deltaDAO team was exploring how to build a legally compliant decentralized data economy using DLT and smart contracts. Discussions with European regulators focused on compliance with the Data Act, AI Act, Data Governance Act, MiCA, and AML/KYB regulations, plus enabling legally binding digital contracts via smart contracts. Yes, this sandbox experience significantly shaped Pontus-X’s production launch and is paving the way for future rules on blockchain-based data monetization and AI-driven data usage in Europe.
