Decentralized storage is becoming increasingly competitive. How can we reduce costs while ensuring data security? This question is becoming a key factor in determining how far a protocol can go.

Recently, Walrus did something interesting: it reduced storage redundancy from the industry standard of 25x down to about 5x. This might not sound like a big deal, but the practical effect is—storing 1GB of effective data now only requires about 5GB of network storage space.

How is this achieved? Walrus utilizes advanced coding and sharding techniques. Instead of piling up storage resources to enhance security, it employs smarter algorithmic mechanisms. A replication factor of 4 to 5 times can achieve the same security level that others require 25 times for. From a technical perspective, this is indeed a significant breakthrough.

**What does this mean in practice?** Costs are lowered, and the entry barrier is reduced. Now, small and medium-sized development teams, various DApp projects, and even some traditional data-intensive applications will find it easier to consider truly storing data on-chain. Decentralized storage has always been seen as a "backup solution," but if costs become competitive enough, it might turn into an "active adoption" option.

For the Sui ecosystem and other chains, cheaper and more efficient storage solutions mean more application scenarios can be supported, and creative on-chain functionalities will be stimulated. As data scenarios diversify, interactions will increase.

**It’s important to note**: Technical advantages alone are not enough. The key is whether network nodes can keep up with growth and how real user adoption data looks. Whether efficiency gains can truly translate into market share is the main focus. The data performance over the next few quarters will reveal everything.