Recently, I took a look at applications on Sui and finally understood why many projects seem so "restrained" in their feature design. At first, I thought it was a product philosophy, but then I realized—it's actually a deep understanding of on-chain costs.

To put it simply, many teams don't lack the desire to develop complex features; they are just very aware: once user historical data, content storage, and complex states are all put on-chain, the system simply can't handle it. Sui's performance is indeed strong, which is no problem, but high performance also has a ceiling. When it comes to large-scale data processing, relying solely on on-chain computation and storage is simply not feasible.

This is where Walrus demonstrates its value. It essentially provides a reliable off-chain data layer for Sui applications. What's the benefit? Application designers no longer have to be forced to choose between two extremes—either features are too simple to attract users, or costs are so high that the business model collapses. With this tool, many features that were "dare not to try" become "safe to implement."

From this perspective, the value of Walrus isn't in any specific feature point, but in how it expands the capabilities boundary of Sui. Applications can ensure decentralization while avoiding compromises in user experience for performance. Once this balance is established, the ecosystem truly has the chance to grow.

Honestly, many users might not even perceive what Walrus is doing. But for the entire ecosystem, this invisible, irreplaceable infrastructure is actually the most valuable. Remove it, and the whole system becomes awkward; some applications might even stop running altogether. This is the true position of $WAL—not a flashy feature add-on, but a critical component that, once missing, forces the ecosystem to be redesigned.