Walrus Protocol Heats Up: AI, NFTs, and DePIN Fuel $WAL’s 70% Comeback

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Jimmy Aki

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Jimmy Aki

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Jimmy has nearly 10 years of experience as a journalist and writer in the blockchain industry. He has worked with well-known publications such as Bitcoin Magazine, CCN, and Blockonomi, covering news...

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Last updated: 

May 4, 2025

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The native token of Walrus Protocol, $WAL, is on a tear. Up more than 11% in the past 24 hours, the bullish momentum shows no sign of slowing down.

Built on the Sui blockchain, the decentralized data storage protocol officially launched on March 27 and has already cracked the top 80 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization.

Riding on the momentum of its successful airdrop, $WAL was promptly listed across several centralized exchanges, including Bybit, KuCoin, Bitget, and Binance, though some listings were limited to futures trading.

Despite an initial post-launch dip of over 70% that saw $WAL test a low of $0.3557, the token has clawed its way back.

In the last two weeks alone, $WAL climbed to a high of $0.6125, pushing its market cap to approximately $806 million.

While still 30% below its debut high of $0.8742, $WAL is gaining ground, especially within the AI/ML, gaming, and NFT verticals.

Walrus Technology Breakdown: How Programmable Storage Changes the Game

Walrus Protocol is optimized for storing large binary objects, or “blobs,” such as images, videos, PDFs, and entire apps.

At press time, the platform boasts 333.33 TB in total storage capacity, with over 3,367 GB already in use across more than 3.25 million blobs, per Walruscan data.

What sets Walrus apart is its programmability. Thanks to Sui smart contracts, users get secure, private, and decentralized storage.

The Walrus team hasn’t shied away from challenging industry incumbents.

In a recent statement, they asserted: “Walrus stores data privately, securely, and in a decentralized way. Filecoin can’t do this—yet it’s a $2 billion project…”

Backed by major VCs, Walrus raised $140 million in a tough market environment, led by Standard Crypto, with participation from a16z crypto, Electric Capital, and Franklin Templeton Digital Assets.

The raise valued Walrus’s total token supply at $2 billion.

Walrus Rises as a DePIN Leader, As On-Chain and Derivatives Activity Soars

Walrus now ranks as the 4th-largest project in the Decentralized Physical Infrastructure (DePIN) sector, trailing only Filecoin, Render, and Bittensor.

With DePIN’s market cap currently at $18 billion and projections estimating it could reach $3.5 trillion by 2028, Walrus is positioning itself to capture a significant slice of this emerging market.

Recent partnerships are fueling the fire. Last month, Nami Cloud rolled out its Mainnet Publisher and S3-compatible API on Walrus Protocol, easing Web2-to-Web3 migration.

Even Pudgy Penguins, the beloved NFT brand, jumped in, hosting its NFT stickers and GIFs on the protocol.

Interest in $WAL has also exploded on-chain.

According to CoinGlass, Walrus recorded the highest trading volume among DePIN tokens in the past 24 hours, with over $77 million exchanged, marking a 67% increase.

The protocol also led to open interest (OI), with a 22% rise and more than $32 million in capital placed by traders betting on further upside.

Technical Outlook: $WAL Eyes $0.80 Breakout After Descending Channel Reversal

On the 4-hour chart for $WAL/$USDT, the token broke free from a descending channel following a sharp corrective phase from the $0.695 peak.

Currently, the token trades at $0.6075, just above the 9-period simple moving average (SMA), which is acting as dynamic support at $0.5768.

The next major resistance lies around $0.695, and a confirmed breakout above that level could open the path toward the $0.80–$1.00 zone, as noted in the chart.

The RSI stands at 58.67, reflecting moderate bullish strength. A prior bearish divergence, where the price made higher highs, but RSI made lower highs, appears to resolve as the indicator rises again in line with the price.

The overall structure suggests a potential uptrend continuation, especially if the price closes above $0.695 with strong volume.

Should the move fail, support can be expected around the SMA and previous wedge resistance, which has now turned support near the $0.55–$0.57 range.