The Walrus protocol has sparked a new wave on the Sui chain, doing things a bit differently in decentralized storage. Its core appeal lies in the $WAL token, which is not just a functional token but also carries multiple roles including data storage, governance, and privacy protection, giving users true control over their data.

The protocol's positioning is very clear—focused on handling large-scale unstructured data, such as videos, images, and AI datasets. Unlike other solutions, Walrus heavily relies on the high performance of the Sui blockchain and the advantages of the Move language to offer a programmable storage solution.

From an architectural perspective, Walrus has made a smart separation—control layer on the Sui chain, while the actual storage layer is distributed across a network of nodes. This design naturally enhances privacy because data is not concentrated on a single server. Interestingly, it uses Red Stuff erasure coding technology, which fragments data and distributes it across the node network. With approximately 4-5 times replication factor, it ensures high data availability. In other words, even if some nodes go offline or crash, data can be fully recovered, which is especially useful for high-reliability scenarios.

The $WAL token also serves as a governance token. Holders have voting rights to decide on key network parameters, protocol upgrades, and other critical decisions, allowing the entire community to determine the development direction of Walrus. This operational model truly hands back control of the protocol to the community, promoting a more decentralized evolution of the project.