2026-01-06 16:20:16

Recently, I noticed that the performance of Alpha, a leading exchange's DePIN project, has been somewhat disappointing. On its first day, the price plummeted from $0.13 to $0.09, a nearly 20% drop. This incident has changed my perception of the entire DePIN track—not all projects can come out on top.

But if you look at the storage sector, the situation is completely different.

Speaking of Walrus, a project focused on decentralized storage within the Sui ecosystem, its technical approach is indeed quite hardcore. They use erasure coding technology, splitting data into fragments and dispersing them across various nodes in the network. To put it simply, it's like breaking an egg into 100 baskets—even if one-third of the baskets have issues, the data can still be fully recovered. This is much more practical than schemes relying on GPS positioning for mining.

From a valuation perspective, $WAL is currently only $0.147 per token, with the entire project market cap at just $230 million. Compared to established storage players like Filecoin and Arweave, Walrus's valuation potential is still quite considerable. What's more interesting is that their storage costs are 100 times cheaper than traditional solutions. This cost-performance ratio is truly impressive.

The economic model is also solid. Staking $WAL now yields an annualized return of 21%. Such stable passive income is much more comfortable than watching certain projects' prices spike and crash.

The mainnet has been online for less than a year, and over 4,000 TB of storage capacity is already in operation. Considering the explosive growth of data in the AI era, decentralized storage will become an essential demand sooner or later. Infrastructure projects with real application scenarios are often the hard currency that can withstand market cycles.

Instead of chasing after price swings every day, it's better to focus on these underlying projects with practical use cases.

WAL10,75%

FIL-0,98%

AR-3,27%

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StableNomad

· 01-07 18:04

ngl, that 20% dump on day one hits different when you remember UST in may... erasure coding sounds legit tho, not just another gps nonsense play

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DataChief

· 01-07 10:55

All the pitfalls of Alpha, I'm already tired of them. However, the Walrus idea is somewhat interesting; there are indeed opportunities in the storage sector. A 21% annualized staking yield sounds good, but I'm just worried it's another mirror project. Wait, is the erasure coding scheme really more reliable than Filecoin? Who calculated that it's 100 times cheaper? Is there data to support this? 4000TB capacity in just one year, the growth is a bit slow, but at least you can see things in use. This is what a real project should look like. However, a market cap of 230 million USD compared to Filecoin definitely has room to grow, but the premise is that the team doesn't drop the ball.

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CryptoCrazyGF

· 01-07 06:24

Oh no, it's another project rug story. But Walrus's erasure coding logic is indeed solid, much more reliable than those projects built on hype. A 21% annualized return is pretty good, but I don't know how long it can last. Real-world application scenarios are the key, there's no doubt about that. Filecoin has been around for so many years, and Walrus still has room for valuation, but don't be too optimistic. Decentralized storage will eventually explode, and AI data volume is indeed a necessity. Those who got in early might profit. Infrastructure projects like this are definitely more comfortable than chasing short-term price swings, worry-free. Staking yields being more stable is always better than being trapped and stressed every day.

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SleepTrader

· 01-06 16:44

The analogy of eggs scattered across 100 baskets is brilliant; finally, I see a storage solution that doesn't rely on luck. WAL's price is indeed a bit undervalued, but I still want to see the upcoming real data. A 21% annualized return sounds comfortable, but I'm just worried it might turn out to be another story from yesterday.

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SandwichTrader

· 01-06 16:36

The analogy of eggs scattered across 100 baskets is brilliant. Finally, a project with technical depth has been seen.

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FOMOmonster

· 01-06 16:33

Honestly, compared to projects that crash as soon as they go live, Walrus with its practical use case is definitely much more solid. The fact that storage costs are 100 times cheaper—if it can really be implemented—will eventually replace Filecoin. A 21% annual yield sounds comfortable, but I'm just worried it might also turn out to be a disappointment later on... The Sui ecosystem has shown some potential over the past two years; I remain optimistic. Staking $WAL is a bit tempting, but I want to observe a bit more—I don't want to get caught off guard again.

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CommunityLurker

· 01-06 16:26

Breaking eggs into 100 baskets—this analogy is perfect, much more reliable than those GPS mining schemes. --- 21% annualized return is really attractive; earning passively feels better than constantly watching the market. --- Walrus's technical route is indeed solid, but is a market cap of 230 million really low? Or have Filecoin and Arweave already been overhyped? --- Wait, how is the figure of storing data 100 times cheaper calculated? Seems a bit exaggerated. --- Less than a year for the mainnet to reach 4000TB capacity—how fast is that really? Without comparison data, I can't be sure. --- An annualized staking yield of 21%—how is this return still so high at this point? Could there be hidden risks? --- Rather than saying DePIN is underperforming, it's more like it's full of bubbles, but the storage track is truly different, with essential demand there. --- Another "real-world application" infrastructure—I've heard this many times before. What was the final outcome? --- Honestly, if Walrus could truly break through the storage cost ceiling, big institutions should have already jumped in. Right now, it's still retail investors playing.

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ProveMyZK

· 01-06 16:24

21% annualized, how is this return rate so comfortable... Much better than watching the market every day

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MoneyBurner

· 01-06 16:22

Erasure coding technology is indeed more reliable than GPS mining. I have already built a position at the price of 0.147. Wait, is the 21% annualized return staking yield or purely theoretical? I need to clarify this before going all in. Filecoin also hyped up like this back then. And now? But Walrus's actual storage volume is there, indicating that someone is actually using it. 4000TB of throughput sounds like a lot, but compared to AWS, it's still just a drop in the bucket. How much room for growth is there? The figure that it's 100 times cheaper than traditional solutions needs to be verified with on-chain data. That's a huge bombshell. I'm just worried that it's another overhyped infrastructure that ultimately can't escape valuation normalization.

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