The decentralized storage track already has pioneers like Filecoin and Arweave, but current Web3 applications—especially those that require high-frequency interactions such as dApps and rich media content—have long exceeded initial storage expectations. High performance, low cost, and strong scalability together create a new set of challenges. This is precisely the core issue that the next-generation storage solutions aim to address.

The Walrus protocol, developed by the Mysten Labs team (who are also behind Sui Network), has a clear positioning: it is not just an upgraded cloud drive, but a foundational storage layer designed specifically for large-scale data files. Videos, images, audio, and various asset files can be stored and accessed with extremely high read/write efficiency.

From a technical perspective, several design highlights are worth noting. Erasure coding technology is one of them—allowing data to be fully recovered even if some nodes go offline, greatly enhancing storage reliability while significantly reducing redundancy costs. It’s much smarter than traditional full backups.

In terms of economic model, the ecosystem token not only serves as a payment tool but also functions as an incentive mechanism to drive the entire network operation. Nodes need to stake tokens, and poor performance will be penalized. This mechanism ensures high availability and security of the network. It may sound cliché, but when executed properly, it can create a positive feedback loop.

What’s even more interesting is its close integration with the Sui ecosystem. As the native storage solution for Sui, it can provide better protocol alignment and performance optimization at the infrastructure level—this deep integration often produces effects that are difficult for standalone applications to achieve. Given the current explosive growth of the entire ecosystem, the timing is right.