Behind the rapid growth of AI models, GPU budgets are soaring, but few people pay attention to the hidden risks of data storage—an unexpected outage could mean starting the entire training cycle over from scratch.

This is why distributed storage solutions are beginning to gain attention. Take Walrus Protocol as an example; its approach is to disperse data across a global network of nodes, ensuring real-time accessibility through random availability challenges. If a node goes offline, the staked $WAL tokens will be slashed. Compared to a pure PoS mechanism, this form of punishment is more direct and better incentivizes nodes to stay stable.

Talus Network has already made a prototype on this path. They deploy DeFi-strategy AI on distributed storage, writing each model iteration on-chain. This not only mitigates the risk of centralized server crashes but also opens a window for external audits. Even more interesting is the accompanying on-chain access control mechanism, where the team can sell model invocation rights with time windows. After users unlock with $WAL, the smart contract automatically grants read permissions. The entire process is transparent and traceable, with clear ownership of models and costs transparently distributed.

As blockchain games and advertising platforms flood into the ecosystem, the types of stored data have expanded from simple CSV files to large files like 4K videos and 3D models. The Red Stuff encoding scheme ensures that even with large file sizes, usability and access speed are not compromised. AI-generated content truly achieves "on-chain and ready to use."

From an economic model perspective, the 2026 roadmap indicates that the Slashing mechanism and short-term staking fees will soon be launched in tandem, with each trigger causing token burns. Under the logic of gradually shrinking supply, $WAL has evolved from network fuel to a scarce asset.

The ecosystem fund continues to roll out RFPs covering AI datasets, market inference algorithms, privacy medical data, and other niche areas, attracting talent and capital to flow into this space.