Companies spend millions every year on so-called "data security" services, only to find that what they're really buying is a blank check of trust from cloud providers and security firms saying, "Rest assured, we won't mess around." This phenomenon reveals an absurdity in the enterprise data market: sky-high security investments are essentially paying for trust.

But the reality is harsh. Repeated data breaches in history have proven that trust-based security defenses are incredibly fragile.

The combination of cryptography and decentralized networks is rewriting this landscape. Solutions that ensure data security through mathematics rather than promises are beginning to emerge. You no longer need to believe in a company's vow; you only need to believe in mathematics—sounds a bit sci-fi, but the technology is already on the way.

The Walrus protocol is doing exactly that. It combines the Red Stuff algorithm with the coordination layer of the Sui blockchain, resulting in two key advantages: first, storage costs have plummeted, and efficient encoding and distribution prevent single points of failure from affecting data integrity; second, data control is refined to the utmost, with smart contracts capable of implementing complex access control logic.

It sounds promising in theory, but how does it perform in practice?

The Alkimi Exchange case—a decentralized advertising platform handling over 25 million ad impressions daily—is very convincing. Under traditional schemes, managing such data involves massive audit costs and privacy risks. Now? All data is encrypted and managed through Walrus's Seal system.

Advertisers can independently verify whether ad placements are genuine, and user privacy is protected throughout with encryption—neither the platform nor anyone else can peek into user information. The result? Alkimi saves huge audit costs and no longer needs to make those "we are very secure" promises.

Verifiability itself becomes the strongest proof of security.

Here's an economic logic: previously, companies either spent large sums on cloud providers like AWS or paid hefty fees to audit firms. Now, some of that expenditure can be redirected to pay for decentralized networks. From this perspective, the value of the protocol's tokens is positively correlated with the trust savings they enable.

Even more interestingly, Walrus is pioneering a new category—verifiable data services. When enough enterprises realize that security should be a mathematically verifiable state rather than a verbal promise bought with money, a large-scale migration wave will follow.

The question now is: will you continue to pay the "trust tax," or are you ready to embrace a trustless future?