Many people think that blockchain is just about trading coins and NFT images, and the application scenarios seem very empty. But if you think about it, how to build the 'WeChat' or 'Douyin' of the next generation internet (Web3), you will find that storage protocols like @Walrus 🦭/acc may be the key water and electricity.$WAL #walrus
Imagine that you want to create a completely decentralized new content platform:
In traditional thinking: the videos and images uploaded by users still need to be stored on Amazon Cloud (AWS). So isn't this just a 'decentralized' shell, with the core still being centralized? Once the server is unplugged, it's all over.
In terms of blockchain thinking: every status update and every image posted by users is a 'transaction,' all recorded on the chain (for example, Ethereum). The result is that posting an image is incredibly expensive (Gas fees), and everyone on the network has to permanently store that image, which is both crazy and inefficient.
Look, the problem arises: applications need to store a large amount of inexpensive, variable data, but public chains themselves are expensive and cumbersome, making them unsuitable for this task. This is the 'gap' that Walrus aims to fill.
It has transformed itself into a 'smart hard drive tailored for blockchain applications.' For developers, it addresses several core pain points:
Data has become 'live components': a video posted by a user in your decentralized social app is no longer a dead file lying on an external server. On Walrus, it becomes an 'object' that can be directly recognized and manipulated by smart contracts on-chain. This means you can easily implement features like 'only paying fans can decrypt and watch' or 'this video, when shared once, automatically rewards the author.' The data itself can embed business models.
It reduces the 'on-chain burden': by placing massive amounts of image and video data on Walrus, only a refined 'ownership certificate' and 'data fingerprint' are stored on the main chain (like Sui). This ensures that data ownership and availability are verifiable without overwhelming the main chain.
It provides privacy possibilities: in future social applications, users may want some content to be visible only to friends or even to communicate anonymously. Walrus's privacy transaction feature provides the foundational technical support for such 'non-fully transparent' interactions.
So, it doesn't attract ordinary users, but rather 'dream builders' who want to create the next generation of applications. If one day you discover a social app that claims 'your content always belongs to you, the platform cannot delete or ban it,' or a video site that truly allows 'creators to receive all profits directly,' its backend is likely built on Walrus or similar protocols.
Of course, this is still in its early stages. Using it for development now is definitely more difficult and costly than using traditional cloud services. But its value lies in providing a 'new possibility.' It tells developers: if you want to create truly decentralized applications, there is now a more complete toolbox available, and 'smart storage' is an indispensable wrench within it. Walrus bets that giant applications will emerge in the future that need this wrench, applications we have yet to see. It is preemptively building a sea for the 'whales' that have not yet arrived.
