A truly decentralized storage network must be economically sustainable in the long run. Walrus addresses this with a thoughtfully designed economic model that aligns the interests of all participants. The native WAL token plays a central role, used by users to pay for storage and by storage providers as a reward for contributing capacity and maintaining data integrity.
This creates a virtuous cycle, or a "flywheel," where increased network usage leads to higher demand for the token and greater rewards for providers, which in turn attracts more storage capacity and enhances network robustness. The system is designed to ensure data persistence by requiring providers to constantly prove they are storing data correctly. As the network grows and technology improves, the cost of storage per gigabyte is expected to decrease, further driving adoption and cementing Walrus's position as a sustainable, long-term solution for decentralized data storage.
