Walrus Protocol: The Next Generation Decentralized Storage System Built on Sui:
Introduction:
In the Web3 era, decentralized storage protocols are foundational pieces of infrastructure. These systems aim to provide storage solutions that are censorship resistant, scalable, cost efficient, and programmable qualities that traditional centralized cloud providers (like AWS, Google Cloud, or Azure) struggle to offer without significant trust or cost compromises.
Walrus Protocol is one such decentralized storage and data availability networking solution, built natively on the Sui blockchain, and designed to handle today’s most demanding data storage needs from multimedia and large datasets to AI models and blockchain history without the drawbacks of centralized systems.
At its core, Walrus seeks to transform the way large files (blobs) are stored, retrieved, verified, and integrated into blockchain applications, while aligning economic incentives with storage reliability and network participation.
Chapter 1 — The Problem Walrus Solves:
1.1 The Limitations of Centralized Storage:
Centralized storage:
• Is controlled by a single entity.
• Can censor or remove data.
• Is susceptible to outages or breaches.
• Often charges high fees for large datasets.
For decentralized applications and blockchain systems, these traits are unacceptable, especially when decentralization, trustlessness, and censorship resistance are primary goals.
1.2 The Need for Decentralized Storage:
Decentralized storage emerged to address these issues:
• Data is spread over many independent nodes.
• No single point of failure exists.
• Cryptographic proofs can verify data integrity.
• Users or dApps can retain full control over content.
However, traditional decentralized storage networks also have limitations including high overhead, inefficient redundancy, slow access times, and sometimes poor developer experience. Walrus is designed to fix many of these challenges.
