In the Web3 era, large file data storage has always been a challenging problem. Recently, many projects have been exploring new ideas, among which Walrus's approach is quite interesting—built on the Sui chain, it adopts a hybrid model of off-chain storage plus on-chain referencing.

Rather than traditional full-chain storage, Walrus is more like a decentralized storage protocol. Data itself is stored off-chain, but cryptographic guarantees and on-chain anchors are used to maintain integrity and traceability. This approach preserves the advantages of decentralization while significantly reducing storage costs.

On the technical level, it uses the RedStuff encoding mechanism to disperse data fragments across numerous nodes. Interestingly, even if some network nodes fail, the system can still recover complete data through these fragments. Compared to traditional full backups, this method is much more efficient.

There are also many practical applications. Metadata storage for NFTs, game resource files, AI training datasets—these applications with high storage capacity and cost requirements can achieve relatively economical solutions through Walrus. More importantly, it can directly integrate with smart contracts, making it easier for developers to access.

In terms of ecosystem incentives, the WAL token is used to motivate storage providers to participate and also serves as a governance token for the protocol. This design, in the long run, determines whether Walrus can attract enough node resources to maintain the stability of the protocol.