#walrus $WAL The Node Operator's Lens: Running Infrastructure for Walrus
Behind every user-facing application is robust infrastructure. For Walrus, this means a decentralized network of Storage Providers (SPs). Running a Walrus node is a commitment to being part of the ecosystem's backbone. It requires reliable hardware and bandwidth, but the economic model is designed for predictable returns. Operators earn $WAL through block rewards for providing committed capacity and fees for serving data retrieval requests.
This role is active and performance-based. The staking and potential future slashing mechanisms mean an operator's reputation and financial reward are tied directly to their reliability and uptime. It's not passive income; it's a service-oriented business model within the crypto economy. By incentivizing high-quality service, this model ensures the network remains fast and reliable for end-users, creating a professional-grade cloud from a collection of independent, incentivized operators.
