Walrus ($WAL) is a decentralized storage and data availability protocol designed for large data blobs—an area where many Web3 applications quietly fail. While ownership may exist on-chain, the underlying media, game assets, or datasets are often stored on centralized servers, creating hidden points of failure when those services change policy or go offline.
Walrus addresses this by using the Sui blockchain as a coordination layer for payments, rules, and data references, while a distributed network of storage nodes holds the actual data. Instead of fully replicating files, Walrus employs RedStuff erasure coding, splitting data into fragments that can be reconstructed even if multiple nodes are unavailable. This approach improves resilience while keeping storage costs efficient during network churn.
Applications upload data, store the resulting reference in smart contracts, and pay WAL for defined storage periods. Data can later be retrieved using the same reference. WAL also supports delegated staking, allowing users to back storage providers whose rewards depend on reliably storing and serving data.
The long-term goal is to provide a dependable data layer for blockchain applications, rollups requiring data availability, and AI workflows that depend on durable, verifiable datasets. By proving data availability rather than assuming it, Walrus aims to make true ownership include the underlying data—not just a pointer to it.
