Sui eco-system recently launched an interesting infrastructure project — Walrus, positioned as "decentralized cloud storage + programmable hard drive," specifically designed to solve the massive data storage pain points for AI, gaming, media, and Web3 applications.

This project comes from the official Sui team, and the core problem is quite straightforward: storing videos, images, AI training datasets, NFTs, or websites on the blockchain is prohibitively expensive and consumes significant resources. Walrus employs a clever technical solution — erasure coding combined with RedStuff encoding — fragmenting files and distributing them across multiple nodes. With only 4-5 redundancy levels, it can ensure data security while claiming to reduce storage costs by 80-100x. Once data is uploaded, it can be stored permanently, and retrieval is accessible anytime, anywhere.

From an application perspective, its most powerful feature is programmability. Data stored on Walrus can directly interact with Sui smart contracts, meaning automatic fee renewal, access control, and data ownership transactions can all be implemented through code. The WAL token is used to pay storage fees, stake to earn rewards, and participate in governance.

The fundraising background is solid too — it secured million in funding, with top-tier institutions like a16z and Standard Crypto participating. The mainnet went live in March this year, making it worth following the development of this track.