As the storage layer solution for the Sui ecosystem, Walrus's tight technical coupling means its stability depends not only on its own distributed node network but also directly on the operational status of the Sui mainnet.

We need to seriously consider a realistic extreme scenario: what happens if the Sui network halts due to a consensus mechanism vulnerability or a large-scale DDoS attack?

During the downtime of the Sui mainnet, although Walrus's storage nodes are still running and the hard drive data remains intact, the central control system of the entire system loses responsiveness. You cannot apply for new storage quotas, cannot adjust access permission policies, and may even be unable to verify storage ownership and access rights through contracts on the Sui chain. The result is that data falls into a "zombie" state—physically present but logically inaccessible or uncontrollable.

What’s especially problematic are scenarios that rely on on-chain real-time verification for permission authentication. For example, applications that require "holding a specific NFT to decrypt stored files." Once Sui experiences a shutdown, the entire authentication mechanism collapses, and even users with legitimate permissions cannot access the data.

Based on this understanding, when designing high-availability business applications, I do not assume that L1 will always be stable and online. Instead, I would build a "backup fallback plan": cache key metadata and permission snapshots on the application side. When the Sui network encounters a failure, the application can temporarily switch to a local verification mode, directly requesting data from Walrus nodes using cached credentials—provided that Walrus nodes offer some form of offline verification capability or the application layer has alternative decryption methods.

In simple terms, without such an "off-chain fallback" contingency plan that allows basic operations to continue independently of the main chain, all decentralized storage solutions risk appearing fragile in the face of mainnet failures.

Disclaimer: The above reflects personal research opinions and is intended for technical discussion only; it does not constitute any investment advice.