2026-01-18 20:21:20

At the start of 2026, the decentralized storage field has welcomed a heavyweight disruptor. Walrus Protocol just raised $140 million and released a roadmap. This document is clearly not aimed at retail investors—it directly targets two directions: enterprise applications and AI data sovereignty.

This is not the usual empty talk of "faster, cheaper, more decentralized." Walrus's message is straightforward: we are no longer competing with traditional decentralized storage projects over whose narrative sounds better, but rather addressing a hardcore question—can decentralized storage truly handle what centralized cloud can do?

In the past, when mentioning decentralized storage, many people's impressions were still limited to NFT avatars, front-end pages, and static file backups. Anyway, if it's a bit slower, so be it; it's not urgent data.

But the data world that truly matters is not like that. Enterprise-level data has four characteristics: large volume, high speed, system stability, and high value. Jumping to terabyte-scale data, any access delay issues immediately impact business operations. The reason why past decentralized storage solutions failed to penetrate the enterprise market is stuck at this point.

Walrus's new XL Blobs technology fundamentally aims to tackle this problem head-on. Instead of repeatedly emphasizing "we are more secure, more resistant to censorship," it speaks with real capabilities—whether it can compete directly with centralized solutions in performance, reliability, and latency. This is the real shift worth paying attention to.

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MEVHunter_9000

· 3h ago

Haha, $140 million to build enterprise-level, this time they really want to get things done, no more of that old-fashioned anti-censorship rhetoric. Can they compete with AWS? Honestly, it's a bit uncertain... but the XL Blobs approach is definitely different. Wait, wait, who is the AI data sovereignty aimed at? There must be a story behind this. Finally, someone wants to solve the latency issue. Decentralized storage has been talked about for so many years, but it’s been deadlocked here. If it can truly operate enterprise data stably, can the price be lowered? That’s the key. I don’t believe it, let’s see how long it can last... too many projects keep coming one after another. Just want to see if this time they can really challenge centralized systems head-on; everything before was just talk. The enterprise market will definitely be highly competitive, but someone has to be the first to take the plunge. $140 million burned, and in the end, it might just become a meme coin... not feeling very optimistic. Performance and anti-censorship, one has to be sacrificed, right? These days, I’ve never seen both fish and bear paws at the same time.

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ser_ngmi

· 12h ago

1.4 billion invested, can it really handle the enterprise-level solutions, or is it just another fundraising story? --- XL Blobs sounds good, but to truly matter, latency and stability need to be on par with AWS. --- Finally, someone is not hyping decentralization and is directly comparing it to centralized solutions. I appreciate this pragmatic approach. --- Enterprise storage, once it goes live, means real money lost. Can Walrus really withstand this pressure? --- Ultimately, it still depends on implementation. There are too many projects with impressive roadmaps. --- Compared to those who talk about narratives all day, at least Walrus is facing head-on. I think this approach is right. --- AI data sovereignty is indeed a pain point, but breaking the monopoly of Alibaba, Tencent, and others is no easy feat.

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DegenDreamer

· 14h ago

Finally, someone is not just talking nonsense. I like the direct approach of challenging AWS with this gameplay. The bottleneck for enterprise storage cards has never been ideals, but latency and stability. Walrus understands this. 1.4 billion in funding—really daring to invest. Let’s see if XL Blobs can truly reach the ceiling of decentralized storage. The era where NFT is just for profile pictures should be over; data sovereignty is the real gold mine. But to be honest, those who were hyping the most have all failed. Let’s wait for the real test results.

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WhaleWatcher

· 14h ago

Finally, a project that doesn't boast. Walrus's approach really appeals to my taste. 140 million in funding invested in enterprise applications—that's the right path. --- Decentralized storage has been talked about for so many years, but no one has managed to crack the hard nut of enterprise data. Is Walrus serious? Let's see how XL Blobs performs. --- TB-level data latency explosion directly impacts business, which is indeed the core pain point. The business of centralized cloud gets stuck here; only decentralization can truly handle it, and that's where the story is. --- Don't keep shouting "anti-censorship" and "more secure" all the time; enterprises simply don't buy that. They care about performance, stability, and whether they can save money. Walrus's approach this time is much clearer. --- It feels like this wave of narrative switching is quite interesting—from deceiving retail investors with "idealism" to solidly focusing on "commercialization." It seems decentralization also needs to learn how to make money.

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FlippedSignal

· 14h ago

A $140 million funding round and you want to disrupt cloud storage? Wake up, enterprise users don't buy into that at all. How can you compare latency and stability to AWS? That said, at least Walrus is serious, unlike some projects that just tell stories every day. Finally, someone dares to compete with centralized solutions. XL Blobs sounds promising, but stability upon launch is the key. I've seen too many on-paper data points. Those previous decentralized storage projects relied on storytelling to attract users. This time, a different approach is promising, but it depends on whether they can sustain it in the future. I'm somewhat looking forward to AI data sovereignty, but it depends on how far real-world applications can go. A funding scale of 140 million is indeed impressive, but the enterprise market isn't that easy to crack. Don't just boast about performance metrics; real users need to test it in practice to see if it works. It feels like Web3 storage is about to enter a new round of competition. This time, it's finally not about who has the better story.

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ForumLurker

· 14h ago

1.4 billion dollars poured in, just to do big things. But on the other hand, can it really compete head-to-head with AWS? Wait, can XL Blobs actually be implemented or is it just another concept hype? Finally, someone is not just bragging and storytelling. I want to see if it can really work. For enterprise-level data, a single latency issue can be a deal breaker. Does Walrus dare to take this order? This is what I want to see. Stop talking about resisting censorship all day. What I need is something usable. If the AI data sovereignty can be developed, it will be extremely valuable. Honestly, it still depends on performance data to speak. Everything else is just talk. Interesting, is decentralized storage finally going to evolve?

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