Decentralized storage—why is this sector only now really heating up? The core reason is that someone has finally brought the costs down.

Represented by Walrus Protocol, the new generation of storage solutions uses erasure coding technology to cut storage costs to $50/TB/year, which is four times cheaper than Filecoin. These aren’t marketing figures—they directly impact the threshold for commercial viability. At this price point, 4K video streaming and large-scale data applications truly have a deployment foundation. Plus, with Sui chain’s native programmable features, data management has upgraded from passive storage to dynamic scheduling, making the technical framework more advanced than predecessors.

The economic model is even more interesting. Out of a total of 5 billion tokens, 60% go directly to the community rather than the team, which is quite generous for Web3 infrastructure projects. The allocation of 10% airdrops plus 43% ecosystem incentives ties early users and developers’ interests together—this design may seem old-fashioned, but combined with the upcoming token burn mechanism, it changes the game. Every data upload triggers deflation, and demand growth directly reflects on the token, creating a positive feedback loop.

In terms of background, the $140 million funding round includes top institutions like a16z, indicating strong confidence from capital in this sector. The storage demands of the Sui ecosystem will itself drive a mainnet deflationary flywheel, and current valuations still leave plenty of room for imagination compared to competitors in the same sector. The node staking APY of 18%-25% looks attractive, but the key question is whether you can benefit from the upcoming ecosystem explosion. What’s your view on this node—hold steadily to enjoy the yields, or go all-in and wait for the ecosystem to erupt?