The Walrus Protocol is rapidly emerging as one of the most pivotal infrastructure layers in Web3’s decentralized data economy — and its latest developments reflect that trajectory. In 2025, the Walrus Foundation successfully secured a $140 million private funding round, led by heavyweight investors including Standard Crypto, a16z Crypto, Electric Capital, Creditcoin, Lvna Capital, Protagonist, Franklin Templeton Digital Assets, Karatage, RW3 Ventures, Comma3 Ventures, and The Raptor Group. This substantial capital injection is not merely financial validation; it’s a strategic enabler for Walrus to accelerate its roadmap, expand its network infrastructure, and reinforce its position as a core data layer for decentralized applications and AI workloads.
With this funding, Walrus is driving toward ambitious ecosystem goals beyond just maintaining a decentralized storage network. One of the earliest milestones tied to the raise was the rollout of the mainnet on March 27, 2025, unlocking full operational status and true usage potential across applications like rich media hosting, AI datasets, and Web3 historical records — all on a programmable, blockchain-native stack. The introduction of its native $WAL token expected with mainnet launch also aligns network incentives, supports staking, governance, and potential fee models that catalyze long-term decentralization
But the implications go deeper than funding alone. The capital allows Walrus to invest in ecosystem-wide initiatives such as the Walrus RFP (Request for Proposals) Program, which funds builders and innovators that expand Walrus’ utility and tooling. By encouraging external teams to integrate or build on Walrus, the protocol fosters a diverse set of solutions, from developer SDKs to analytics dashboards to entirely new classes of decentralized applications.
At its core, Walrus isn’t simply another storage protocol — it’s a programmable data layer that addresses fundamental challenges around data availability, onchain accessibility, and decentralized workflows. In a Web3 world where applications increasingly depend on access to verifiable, high-volume datasets — whether for DeFi analytics, real-time gaming assets, AI model storage, or rich media distribution — Walrus aims to become the general-purpose data substrate that developers rely on. The combination of strong financial backing, mainnet momentum, and ecosystem support positions Walrus as a foundational pillar of a more decentralized Web3 data stack. @Walrus 🦭/acc #walrus $WAL
