When it comes to "moving videos, images, and datasets onto the blockchain," many people's first reaction is to shake their heads—high transaction fees, storage bloat, and processing capacity limits are real pain points.

A common alternative is outsourcing data to cloud service providers, but this approach is essentially a workaround: data remains in someone else's hands, and availability, version control, and long-term preservation all rely on their promises. Walrus takes a different approach—it's not about forcibly pushing files onto the chain, but designing a storage architecture that can provide blockchain guarantees without causing system paralysis, especially suitable for handling massive amounts of data.

In terms of positioning, Walrus aims to be the Web3 version of AWS. The core differences are twofold: decentralized operation and programmable interaction. Anyone can participate as a storage node, with no monopolistic gatekeeper controlling access. Even better, the storage layer can directly collaborate with smart contracts—contracts can verify whether a file truly exists, whether its content has been tampered with, and whether it is within its validity period. It can also trigger payment or access control processes, all without loading large files into the contract execution environment.

Why is this "separable but verifiable" design worth paying attention to? For example: a governance contract needs to review an attachment to a proposal. It doesn't have to read the entire attachment—just verify that the file is stored in trusted storage, hasn't been tampered with, and is within its validity period. Walrus records the file's commitment value and checksum as lightweight proofs on-chain, and the contract makes decisions based on these "trusted facts." This approach kills two birds with one stone—preserving the blockchain's immutability feature while avoiding the costs and complexity of uploading large files.