This hackathon's excitement truly exceeded expectations—27 countries with 887 developers participated, and 282 projects were submitted. What does this number reflect? As a storage project, Walrus has managed to inspire so many people's creativity, indicating that the ecosystem's appeal is already significant.

The most interesting part is the four main tracks of the competition: Data Security and Privacy, Data Marketplace, AI×Data, and Verifiable Authenticity. This wasn't just a random idea; it directly targets the core pain points that storage technology can solve. The 15 winning projects have already begun to be implemented—some focus on secure storage and monetization of user health data, some have built transparent and verifiable advertising data platforms, and others combine AI models with decentralized storage, creating innovative approaches.

What do these projects need to get running? Storage space, transaction fees, staking mechanisms, ecosystem governance—all are indispensable, and the core of these scenarios points to the WAL token. If you want to store data, you need to pay transaction fees with WAL; to participate in mining, you need to stake WAL; for voting and governance, it's still WAL. As a result, with the explosive growth of ecosystem applications, the demand for WAL naturally increases.

Interestingly, participation now not only grants token airdrops but also provides priority access to these new applications incubated by the hackathon. Beginners can start with basic tasks, and after completing them, they can experience the award-winning applications firsthand. By storing data and participating in testing to earn points, these points can be directly exchanged for airdrop weight. The logic is clear—participate while earning, and stay updated on the latest ecosystem developments.

For advanced participants, the opportunities are even clearer: projects in the AI×Data track have the highest testing weight. Storing AI training data on Walrus can earn a 25% weight bonus, which is a direct incentive for those optimistic about the future of AI data storage. Data marketplace applications are also worth paying attention to, as the infrastructure for future data trading is likely to be refined within these projects.

The essence of the hackathon is to showcase the innovative potential of the ecosystem. The submission data of 282 projects proves that developers believe this direction is worth exploring. The implementation of 15 winning projects further validates the feasibility of the concepts. When these applications truly run on-chain, generating real storage demand and transaction volume, the use cases for WAL will truly come to life.