Walrus and the Trust Puzzle That Centralized Cloud Computing Has Never Fully Solved

Hello to everyone in the crypto community! Today I want to talk about #Walrus – a low-key, non-hype infrastructure project that hits right on a very “painful” issue that most of us have encountered: trust in centralized data storage. The First Shock Is Not Speed, But Trust The first time I tried to transfer a large dataset out of a centralized cloud system, I thought the biggest problem would be speed: slow uploads, long downloads, expensive bandwidth. But I was wrong. The most annoying thing isn’t technical, it’s the feeling of insecurity. What happens if the provider changes policies? What if storage costs suddenly spike? What if your account gets locked for some “out of the blue” reason? Your data doesn’t disappear immediately, but control is no longer in your hands. And this trust gap is exactly what Walrus is trying to fill. That’s also why many people compare Walrus to “big cloud players,” even though such comparisons sometimes distract from the core issue. What Is Walrus (Not Romanticizing) Walrus is a decentralized data storage network for blob data – large, bulky data that blockchain cannot handle: Images, videosDataset AIDataset RollupApplication statusUser content The project was initiated by Mysten Labs, closely linked to the Sui ecosystem in its early (coordination and payment) phases. Long-term, Walrus aims for complete independence, with its own token WAL and governance mechanism based on Delegated Proof of Stake managed by storage operators. The key point here is: 👉 Walrus does not aim to become a “tokenized Dropbox.” 👉 It targets infrastructure-level storage, where data availability and integrity are verified cryptographically, not just “promised in terms of service.” Why Cloud Centralization Still Dominates To be fair: centralized cloud wins because it’s just too convenient. Pay → upload → accessStable performanceHuge ecosystem: IAM, analytics, CDN, enterprise support This convenience is highly addictive, and denying it is naive. But what is the cost? Single point of failurePolicy risksCensorship risksProviders can revoke access instantly – not because they are bad, but because they hold the “keys” @WalrusProtocol does not say cloud is bad. Walrus only states: that trust model has issues. The Most Interesting Part Is Not Philosophy, But Math Many decentralized storage networks choose two familiar approaches: Full replication → easy to understand but extremely costlySimple erasure coding → more economical but limited Walrus goes further with two-dimensional erasure coding, called Red Stuff. This mechanism helps to: Reduce storage overheadStill tolerate node failures or malicious behaviorSelf-heal with bandwidth proportional to data lost, not the entire dataset According to the whitepaper, the effective replication factor is around 4.5x, while still ensuring high accessibility. Anyone who has restored a large dataset will understand: this is not just academic detail, but a matter of survival in costs. Already in Practical Use, Not Just Slides As of June 2024, Walrus’s developer preview has stored over 12 TiB of real data. This isn’t mass adoption yet, but it’s very important. Many storage projects fail because… no one actually stores real data. With storage infrastructure, actual payload matters more than any roadmap. Programmable Storage Will Change Application Design Walrus is not just a “file storage” solution. It introduces the concept of programmable storage: Applications can interact directly with dataContent can be accessed with proof of integrityIt does not depend on the existence of the original uploader This enables: Decentralized mediaBackend-less applicationsData availability layer truly In this way, storage is no longer a “passive bucket,” but becomes part of the application logic. Walrus Does Not Replace Cloud – And That’s Completely Fine A common mistake among traders is thinking Walrus must “beat AWS.” No. Walrus targets scenarios where decentralization is a must, not just a slogan: Censorship resistanceShared data layerVerifiable distributionLong-term storage independent of a single organization A simple example: A small game studio builds an on-chain marketplace with user content. If all images are stored on the studio’s cloud, they are a critical bottleneck. If the studio disappears or gets locked out, the marketplace becomes an empty shell. With decentralized blob storage, data persists as long as the network exists. The Hard Truth: Centralized Cloud Still Has Advantages Walrus cannot ignore the strengths of traditional cloud: Low latencyGlobal CDNMature operationsCompliance, support, tools Additionally, the token model also carries risks: Incentive misalignmentValidator centralizationOperational cost volatility This is a real issue, not FUD. The Biggest Challenge Is Implementation Order From an investment and long-term observation perspective, the question is: Are there enough operators to ensure resilience?Are there enough developers creating real demand?Will costs and reliability hold up under system stress? Whitepapers can look great, but the market only trusts uptime, access speed, and developer stickiness. How to Follow Walrus Properly Don’t just look at slogans. Look at behavior: How much real data is being stored?How often is it accessed?Is there a production workload?Do operators survive market cycles? Walrus doesn’t need to kill cloud. It just needs to become the default choice when cloud starts to seem riskier than convenient. Personal Perspective In my opinion, Walrus is a project that irritates impatient people. No hype. No get-rich-quick stories. Storage is inherently boring – until it crashes, and everything else crashes with it. Walrus is betting that: future applications will not accept hidden dependencies on centralized systems beneath a shiny interface. This bet may take a very long time to pay off. The convenience of centralized cloud is addictive. But the problem Walrus addresses is real and permanent. If they execute well, they don’t need to win every front. Just succeed where trust matters more than convenience. And when that happens, Walrus will no longer be “interesting.” It will become essential. 👉 And that’s when a truly resilient infrastructure wins. $WAL