Walrus Protocol: The Leader of Sui Ecological Storage Infrastructure in 2026
In the first half of 2026, the Sui ecosystem continues to maintain rapid expansion, with high performance, low costs, and parallel execution making it the preferred public blockchain for AI agents, on-chain games, and big data projects. In this thriving ecosystem, Walrus Protocol, which focuses on decentralized large file storage, is quietly yet convincingly becoming the standard for more and more developers. Since its mainnet launch, it has not engaged in grand publicity, but has instead relied on real technological implementation and user experience to gradually build its reputation.
The core technology, RedStuff erasure coding, is Walrus's trump card. Files are intelligently sliced and stored across hundreds of nodes worldwide; even in extreme cases where most nodes go offline, data can be quickly and completely restored. The cost is only a fraction of Arweave's, while the read and write speeds are significantly ahead. In practical use, uploading several GB of AI training datasets, high-definition videos, or NFT original images can be completed in just a few minutes, with costs stably pegged to fiat currencies, completely unaffected by $WAL price fluctuations. This is crucial for the explosive growth of AI applications in 2026—autonomous agents and generative models require massive reliable storage, and Walrus lowers the barrier, encouraging more projects to boldly try large files.
Walrus is not just about "storage"; it truly realizes "programmable storage." Once data is on-chain, it exists in Blob form and can seamlessly interact with Sui Move contracts, allowing features like version control, access permissions, or transaction logic to be added with a few lines of code. This directly opens up the on-chain data economy: creators can automatically monetize by uploading image sets, video materials, or model weights; AI projects can pay to call verifiable sources, with everything transparently on-chain.
The community atmosphere is excellent, with @walrusprotocol on X interacting daily, frequent hackathon events, and high enthusiasm among builders. Walrus focuses on addressing real pain points, maintaining a very stable position in the AI+Web3 wave. For those looking to lay out long-term infrastructure, this project is worth deep attention; taking action early means reaping the benefits sooner.
