Decentralized storage has always faced a longstanding problem: relying on full replication to ensure reliability is too costly. Once scaled up, the costs become unmanageable.

Walrus's approach is different. It uses erasure coding to split data into multiple fragments, which are then distributed across different nodes. As long as the number of fragments reaches the recovery threshold, the original data can be reconstructed at any time. This sounds simple, but the underlying logic is actually very pragmatic.

Node downtime is normal, not an exception. Instead of assuming all nodes are always online, it’s more realistic to accept that some nodes may fail—this is built into the system design. Erasure coding is specifically designed for such imperfect network environments, using mathematical redundancy to replace physical redundancy. What’s the result? Security remains intact, recoverability is guaranteed, and storage costs are significantly reduced. This cost structure provides a real foundation for long-term operation of decentralized storage.