@Walrus 🦭/acc is a decentralized storage and data availability protocol designed for blobs, meaning large files that do not fit well inside normal blockchain state. I’m interested in it because it tries to solve a practical problem, how to keep big data available without forcing every node to store everything. Walrus uses erasure coding to split a blob into many smaller fragments and distribute them across a storage node committee, so the original file can be reconstructed later from a subset of fragments even when a large portion of nodes are unavailable. The design leans on Sui as the control plane for payments, metadata, and onchain certificates, while Walrus nodes focus on holding and serving fragments efficiently.
A key part of the flow is Proof of Availability. After a blob is encoded and stored by enough nodes, a certificate is recorded on Sui that marks the point where the network becomes responsible for availability for the paid period. That matters because applications can reference that blob and check onchain evidence instead of trusting a private promise. They’re also building around epochs and shard assignments so the network can rotate responsibilities over time without breaking availability during normal churn.
In use, a developer stores media, datasets, or app assets as blobs, then apps and contracts can verify the blob’s availability window and retrieve it by reconstructing it from fragments. The long term goal is to make data a first class resource for decentralized applications, where availability is provable, storage is programmable, and large content can live outside centralized control while staying practical to serve.