The Risks of Over-Decentralizing Walrus Too Early

Don’t rush to decentralize Walrus. Sure, the endgame is a decentralized network, but getting there takes time—and jumping in too early can backfire. Right now, the protocol still needs a close-knit team to sort out storage economics, stress-test incentives, and patch up weird bugs as they pop up. If you spread out governance or infrastructure too soon, decisions slow down, accountability gets blurry, and you risk cementing half-baked ideas before the system’s even proven itself.

Security’s another worry. In the beginning, networks like this are just easier targets. If the validator set or storage nodes haven’t been through real-world chaos, or if the incentives aren’t tuned, attackers find holes. Without enough economic muscle and sharp eyes on the network, decentralization just looks good on paper—real resilience isn’t there yet.

And then there’s trust. Walrus needs to show developers and businesses that it actually works. If the network stumbles or upgrades grind to a halt because everyone’s tripping over decentralized governance, people lose faith.

So, for Walrus, rolling out decentralization in stages makes sense. It’s not selling out. It’s about proving the system works before handing over the keys—building a storage network that people can actually rely on.@Walrus 🦭/acc #Walrus $WAL