The competition for blockchain performance is heating up—Ethereum is focusing on scalability, Solana is soaring in speed, and Sui is experimenting with parallel execution. But if you look closely, all of these are primarily about the computation layer. The real issue is actually deeper: Web3 is still stuck in an awkward "semi-decentralized" stage.

Take a look at those NFT projects; most of the metadata still resides on Amazon AWS or Google Cloud; decentralized social media sounds great, but user content remains firmly held by Web2 giants. This is a typical split between "on-chain assets and off-chain data"—like building a magnificent skyscraper on a rented foundation. If this continues, Web3 will forever be just an advanced financial tool, not a true paradigm shift.

So why haven't previous decentralized storage projects been able to replace cloud services? Simply put, two words: too expensive. The older storage protocols used the most naive approach—copying a file dozens of times across different nodes in the network to ensure it isn't lost. This "full replica copying" sounds secure, but in reality, it's a huge waste of resources. Hardware costs skyrocket, storage prices can't be driven down, and the commercial viability is completely broken.

The core innovation of Mysten Labs' Walrus protocol lies here—it replaces mechanical replication with erasure coding technology. In simple terms, data is fragmented, encoded, and dispersed across storage nodes, using mathematics rather than redundancy to ensure security. This can significantly reduce costs, and that’s the real game-changer. This might be the key to bridging Web3's "last mile"—turning decentralized storage from an ideal into a practical, usable solution.