Walrus coins" refers to WAL, the native utility and governance token of the Walrus Protocol, a decentralized storage and data availability network. Developed by Mysten Labs (the creators of the Sui blockchain), Walrus acts as a "decentralized hard drive" for the Web3 era, designed to store massive files—like videos, AI datasets, and NFT media—at a fraction of the cost of traditional cloud providers.
Users pay in WAL to store data on the network. The protocol uses a mechanism to keep these costs stable in fiat terms (USD) regardless of token price fluctuations.
The network uses a Delegated Proof-of-Stake (DPoS) system. Users delegate WAL tokens to storage nodes to secure the network. Nodes with more stake are assigned more data and earn higher rewards
A portion of the WAL paid for storage and certain network penalties are burned (permanently removed from circulation), which may create upward price pressure as network usage grows.
WAL holders can vote on critical protocol parameters, such as storage pricing, node incentives, and future upgrades
The Walrus protocol distinguishes itself from competitors like Filecoin or Arweave by using a custom encoding method called "Red Stuff."
Fragmentation: Data is split into tiny pieces called "slivers" and distributed globally.
Efficiency: This allows for extremely fast data retrieval and high "fault tolerance," meaning a file can still be recovered even if a large number of storage nodes go offline
@Walrusprotocol