Walrus ($WAL): The Practical Step of Decentralized Storage in Web3

Decentralized storage has long been considered a key pillar of Web3. However, it is also one of the most challenging problems in the ecosystem. Blockchain operates very efficiently in processing transactions and smart contracts but is not designed to store large data such as images, videos, audio, or website resources. High costs and technical limitations make on-chain storage impractical. #Walrus ($WAL ) was created to address this gap, with a design philosophy focused on practical applications rather than idealized promises.

The Storage Puzzle Web3 Still Cannot Fully Solve Most Web3 applications today, although promoted as decentralized, actually store real data on centralized cloud servers. This creates a significant contradiction: if the server encounters issues or access is restricted, the entire “decentralized” application can cease to function. Early decentralized storage solutions attempted to fix this issue but introduced new disadvantages such as: High storage costsSlow retrieval speedsRigid, inflexible permanent storage models @WalrusProtocol starts from a simple reality: to serve daily operating applications, storage must be flexible, cost-effective, and reliable. How Walrus Stores Data Walrus is built to handle large binary data such as: NFT Media (images, videos, audio)Long videosFull websitesAI datasets Data is divided into many small pieces and encoded using erasure coding (error correction coding). These pieces are then dispersed across multiple independent storage nodes. This approach provides very high fault tolerance. Even if a large portion of nodes go offline, the original data can still be fully recovered. Data availability no longer depends on a single provider. Time-Based Storage Model Instead of Permanent Storage Unlike “permanent storage” networks, Walrus uses a time-based storage model. Users pay to store data for a specified period and only renew data that is still needed. If not renewed, data can be deleted after some time. This approach reflects how modern applications operate: Content is always updatedResources can changeNot all data needs to exist forever As a result, Walrus helps reduce unnecessary costs and optimize network resource utilization. Performance and Developer Experience Data read speeds from Walrus are significantly faster than many previous-generation decentralized storage systems, enough to support applications with direct user interaction. Writing large data still requires distributing data across multiple nodes, which introduces some latency compared to centralized systems. However, this is a reasonable trade-off in a decentralized system. Walrus is deeply integrated with the Sui ecosystem, enabling smoother connection between on-chain logic and off-chain data. This helps to: Reduce complexity when developing dAppsShorten product development cyclesIncrease application scalability Who Is Walrus Suitable For? Walrus is not intended to replace traditional cloud services for general users. Instead, it serves applications that emphasize: Censorship resistanceInfrastructure durabilityIndependence from third parties Some fields suitable for Walrus include: Decentralized frontendsNFT platformsHeavy media applicationsdApps requiring high availability Practical Development Path Walrus ($WAL) does not promise to create a perfect decentralized future overnight. Instead, the project offers a robust infrastructure platform that performs well under real-world conditions. By focusing on flexibility, fault tolerance, and honest technical trade-offs, Walrus is gradually transforming decentralized storage from a theoretical concept into a usable tool for modern Web3 applications.