ZIV OREN

When I look at Walrus I do not feel hype or urgency. I feel patience. This project is not trying to win a moment. It is trying to survive time. Walrus exists because the modern internet has a hidden weakness. We build powerful applications on blockchains yet we still store their most important data in places that can disappear. Images break. Frontends go offline. AI datasets sit behind accounts that can change rules overnight.

They are not bad systems. They are just fragile.

Walrus is an attempt to fix that fragility at its root. It is built around a simple but emotional idea. Data should be as durable and trustworthy as the chains that reference it. If a smart contract can live forever then the data it depends on should not feel temporary.

The project grew out of deep research connected to the team behind Sui and is now guided by the Walrus Foundation. From the beginning they did not aim to build storage for small files or quick demos. They designed Walrus for heavy real world data. AI models. Large datasets. Game assets. Media files. Things that matter and cannot afford to vanish.

Walrus treats data as large blobs. Instead of copying full files across many machines it breaks each blob into many smaller pieces using erasure coding. These pieces are distributed across independent storage nodes. The system does not need every piece to survive. It only needs enough of them. If some nodes fail the original data can still be reconstructed.

This choice matters because it changes how failure is handled. Walrus does not assume perfection. It assumes reality. Nodes will go offline. Disks will fail. Networks will lag. Recovery is not an emergency. It is part of the design.

There is also a strong focus on verification. Data can be checked for integrity. Readers can be confident that what they retrieve is exactly what was written. Corruption is not invisible. Trust is not assumed. It is proven.

Time is treated honestly inside Walrus. Data is not stored forever by accident. Storage is reserved for defined periods called epochs. You decide how long your data should live. You can extend that life when needed. You can let it expire when it no longer matters.

This creates a healthier relationship with data. Nothing is hidden. Nothing is promised without cost. Storage becomes intentional rather than magical.

Walrus uses Sui as its coordination layer. This is where the design becomes especially powerful. Storage capacity itself is represented on chain. Data references are on chain objects.

Because of this smart contracts can interact with storage directly. A contract can check whether data exists. It can see how long it will remain available. It can extend storage automatically. It can control access. It can link payments and permissions to data itself.

I am seeing storage become programmable. Not just rented.

This is a quiet shift but it is a deep one. Storage stops being something that lives outside the system. It becomes part of the logic of the system.

The WAL token holds the economic layer together. Users pay WAL to reserve storage. That payment is not handed over all at once. It flows gradually over time to the nodes that keep data available.

Storage nodes and validators stake WAL to participate. If they behave well they earn rewards. If they fail to meet their responsibilities they can be penalized. Governance also flows through WAL. Those who help secure the network help guide how it evolves.

This creates a loop where responsibility and reward are tied together. It is not perfect but it is thoughtful.

People are already using Walrus where data is heavy and valuable. AI teams store models and datasets without relying on a single cloud provider. NFT projects keep media alive without broken links. Games store evolving worlds that are not tied to one server. Other chains can even use Walrus as a data availability layer for publishing information that must remain accessible and verifiable.

This is not flashy usage. It is foundational usage.

Walrus is ambitious and ambition brings risk. Storage nodes must remain profitable even when markets fall. Token prices move faster than hardware costs. Competition from other decentralized storage networks is real. The technology itself is complex and complexity always carries risk.

I am not seeing these as reasons to dismiss the project. I see them as the tests that decide whether Walrus becomes durable or fades quietly.

The team tries to stay grounded. Payments are spread over time to reduce shocks. Staking and penalties discourage careless behavior. Research and documentation are open. Parameters can change. Governance is active. Nothing is frozen in the wrong shape.

This flexibility matters because the future of data is still being written.

If Walrus succeeds it becomes almost invisible. A layer where data simply exists. Reliable. Verifiable. Quiet.

I am imagining a future where AI agents pull trusted data without permission. Where games stream worlds without central servers. Where blockchains stop worrying about where their data lives.

Walrus does not need attention to win. It needs time.

It is not here to impress you today. It is here to protect what you build tomorrow.

If decentralization is meant to be more than a slogan then data must be free to exist without fear.

Walrus is a step toward that future.

@Walrus 🦭/acc $WAL #Walrus

La Fondation Dusk a été fondée en 2018 avec une réalisation très précise. La technologie blockchain était puissante, mais elle échouait dans l'un des secteurs les plus importants du monde : la finance. Les institutions ne pouvaient pas vraiment utiliser les blockchains publiques car la confidentialité manquait et la réglementation était souvent traitée comme un après-pensée. Dès le départ, Dusk n'a pas été conçu pour suivre les tendances. Il a été conçu pour résoudre un problème qui avait silencieusement empêché les institutions d'entrer dans le monde on-chain.

Je regarde le crépuscule comme une réponse à cette réalité. Ils ne demandent pas aux banques ou aux échanges d'abandonner leurs règles. Ils demandent à la technologie blockchain de maturer et de répondre aux normes de la finance réelle. Cette idée unique façonne tout ce que Dusk a construit depuis ses tout premiers jours.

Walrus commence par une prise de conscience calme mais puissante. Les données deviennent la chose la plus précieuse que nous créons, et pourtant elles résident dans des lieux fragiles. Je pense aux photos, aux modèles de recherche, aux dossiers professionnels et aux œuvres créatives qui dépendent toutes de serveurs que nous ne contrôlons pas. Lorsque ces serveurs changent de règles, échouent ou disparaissent, les données disparaissent avec eux. Les blockchains promettaient la permanence, mais stocker de grandes quantités de données directement sur la chaîne est rapidement devenu irréaliste. Les coûts augmentent rapidement et les réseaux ralentissent. Walrus a été créé dans cet écart entre promesse et réalité. Ils ne cherchent pas à forcer les blockchains à tout faire. Ils cherchent à permettre aux blockchains de faire ce qu'elles font le mieux, tout en créant une nouvelle demeure pour les données qui doivent durer.

La Fondation Dusk a été créée en 2018 à un moment où la technologie blockchain évoluait rapidement mais avec une réflexion superficielle. Tout était ouvert. Chaque portefeuille, chaque transaction, chaque solde était visible pour toujours. Au début, cette ouverture semblait révolutionnaire. Avec le temps, elle a commencé à paraître fragile. Je vois de plus en plus de personnes réaliser que la finance ne peut pas perdurer dans un monde où rien n'est protégé. Dusk est né de cette prise de conscience.

Dès le départ, Dusk n'a pas été conçu pour suivre le bruit. Il a été conçu pour résoudre un problème réel. Comment les marchés financiers peuvent-ils évoluer sur une chaîne sans exposer tout le monde impliqué ? Comment faire respecter les règles sans transformer les systèmes en machines de surveillance ? Comment permettre aux institutions de participer sans compromettre la confidentialité ou la loi ? Ces questions ont façonné chaque décision qui a suivi.