Recently, I observed an interesting phenomenon: an app called Tusky announced it would shut down. I initially thought it would trigger a "digital firestorm," but user reactions were unexpected—they realized their data had actually been securely stored elsewhere all along.

The story behind this involves an increasingly important player in the Web3 ecosystem: the Walrus protocol.

**Pain Points of Traditional Models**

Our familiar cloud storage typically works like this: you upload photos and files using an app, and all data resides on the company's servers. If the company suddenly shuts down, the servers fail, or the service is discontinued after an acquisition, your data faces risk. This "front-end and back-end" model seems convenient but essentially puts all eggs in one basket.

**Walrus's Distributed Approach**

Walrus protocol does something entirely different. It is fundamentally a distributed, highly redundant storage network. Your data isn't held by a single company; instead, it is split and stored across multiple nodes in the network. Taking Tusky as an example, the app itself is just a sleek "front"—providing user interface, management features, and search capabilities. But the real database? That’s stored elsewhere.

**What Tusky's Event Tells Us**

After Tusky shut down, the content users uploaded previously didn't disappear. That’s because those files had already been stored via Walrus in the distributed network. The app is gone, but data access rights remain with the users. This marks a key shift—from "relying on the platform's survival" to "data lifecycle being independent."

Comparing this to traditional cloud drives: once they shut down, the data is usually lost (unless you’ve downloaded backups in advance). But applications based on protocols like Walrus—being distributed—are only affected at the front-end level; the data itself still exists in the network.

**Why Is This Important**

From a user perspective, this addresses a deep trust issue. You no longer need to believe that a company will always exist and protect your data forever. The redundancy and availability of data are guaranteed by the network’s structure itself, not by a centralized entity.

From a developer’s perspective, this also changes how applications are built. Developers can focus on user experience and feature innovation without investing heavily in data center operations. Apps can be more lightweight, easier to launch, and simpler to iterate or shut down—because data security is no longer tied to the application's lifecycle.

**Practical Significance**

Protocols like Walrus represent an important direction for Web3 storage: leveraging cryptography and distributed consensus to truly return data ownership to users. It’s not about "I allow you to store," but "I own this data and choose how to store it."

Tusky’s shutdown could have been a tragedy, but thanks to Walrus, it became a case study—proving that distributed storage is not just a technical concept but a feasible, effective solution in real-world scenarios.