Sui has become one of the most active Layer1s by 2026 due to its high performance and the combination of the Move language. But most people only see the TPS numbers and overlook a more fundamental question—where does the data go?

This is where Walrus comes in. As one of the most important infrastructures in the Sui ecosystem, Walrus is a decentralized storage network optimized specifically for large file scenarios. Sounds familiar? That's right, Arweave and Filecoin are also doing this. But Walrus's approach is completely different—not pursuing permanence or complex incentive mechanisms, but focusing on practicality and cost.

Technically, Walrus's core is a distributed storage model. Files are encoded into data blocks and dispersed across a global network of nodes through erasure coding. The key point is that even if some node data fragments are lost, the system can fully recover the original file using the remaining parts. This sounds simple, but the underlying encoding algorithms and redundancy design make storage extremely cheap while ensuring data durability.

In comparison, Arweave aims for permanent storage and charges long-term storage fees, while Filecoin's complex economic model can be a bit cumbersome for ordinary users. Walrus is more straightforward—users pay a one-time fee and then receive long-term reliable storage services, at a cost far lower than centralized solutions like Amazon S3. For developers, this is a direct way to reduce the cost of building on the chain.

Then there's the $WAL token design, which is the most exciting part of the story. The token is not just a governance tool but also the engine of the network economy.

Storage demanders use $WAL to pay fees. How are these fees allocated? Part of it is used to buy back and burn tokens (a deflationary mechanism), and part is distributed to validation nodes and token holders. Staking $WAL involves nodes taking on the responsibility of data storage and validation in exchange for stable block rewards. Ordinary holders can participate in ecosystem governance through veWAL locking mechanisms and receive dividend distributions.

The smartest part of this design is—users of the network need to consume tokens, while those maintaining the network earn rewards through tokens. The greater the demand, the more tokens are consumed, and the more benefits holders can gain. This creates a self-sustaining cycle.

From the perspective of the Sui ecosystem, Walrus addresses a pain point. The cost of storing large data on-chain for DApps has always been high. With this protocol, developers' cost pressure is directly reduced. Whether it's NFT storage, game resources, or user data for Web3 applications, there is now a low-cost decentralized solution.

Of course, any project depends on implementation. The current key for Walrus is the scale of node deployment and the growth of actual use cases. If applications in the Sui ecosystem start to use Walrus storage on a large scale, the usage of $WAL and the economic effects of the token will gradually become evident. Otherwise, it remains just potential.

Overall, Walrus is a project in the Sui ecosystem worth continuous observation. It’s not just empty talk, but a real effort to solve a genuine problem through technology and economic design.