When a storage project that hasn't yet launched its mainnet manages to raise $140 million at a $2 billion valuation, what does this really signify?

It's not just a chase for capital hot money. From a certain perspective, this is a collective vote of confidence in the next-generation infrastructure by the entire industry.

Walrus's recent funding round was led by top crypto funds such as Standard Crypto, a16z, and Electric Capital, propelling it directly to the second-highest valuation among blockchain storage protocols—only behind the veteran Filecoin. Why would a nascent project receive such treatment?

The answer isn't complicated. Walrus's story isn't fabricated out of thin air. Its incubator is Mysten Labs, the creator of the high-performance public chain Sui. In other words, Walrus was developed almost entirely using Mysten Labs' internal resources, and by the time it sought external funding, it was already a testnet-verified, near-complete product.

This fundamentally changes the way fundraising is approached. The team doesn't need to heavily dilute equity for early-stage development, allowing for high valuations and minimal token distribution during fundraising. The data speaks volumes: only 7% of $WAL tokens went to investors, a proportion even lower than the reserved community airdrop.

This approach—demonstrating technical strength while being community-friendly—is becoming a benchmark for new-generation projects.