Have you tried it? I really did. Last year, I wanted to upload a weird sleeping position photo of my cat to some so-called "Decentralization storage network," and goodness, it took me half an hour just to figure out how to swap their tokens. I waited for over ten minutes for the upload to confirm, but it still hadn't—so I gave up. Honestly, it felt like I just wanted to save a file, but I was forced to take a blockchain qualification exam ➕ patience training camp.

So when my group friends recommended Irys (that's @irys_xyz) to me again, my first reaction was: "Come on, I'm not a hardcore gamer."

But! It is!

I really tried it later, and the result... how should I put it, it was completely different from what I expected.

The first time I used it to upload was a 30-second video, which is the "crime evidence" of my cat finally managing to open the door. I had mentally prepared myself to brew a cup of tea and wait for about five minutes, but just as I clicked upload, in just a few seconds, really just a few seconds, it told me: "All done, here is your permanent link."

My expression at that time was probably: (✧ᴗ✧)

To be honest, I'm a bit confused. So soon? Forever? Are you kidding me? I refreshed that link several times, afraid it would suddenly 404... but it didn't, it's right there, as steady as my mom's lines when she scolds me.

Later, I was not discouraged and tried something more advanced – uploading a small contract I wrote along with a string of text. I originally thought this would definitely require messing with the environment, configuring nodes, bridging, and all that, right? But... I was wrong again. Irys actually has its own execution layer and is compatible with EVM. I just about pasted the code, clicked a few times, and it was called directly on the chain.

At that moment, I realized: data is not "dead"; it can be "alive"—it can be read by programs, used by contracts, and triggered in real time.

I originally thought this was just a "storage upgrade version," but later I realized that it is actually a foundational infrastructure for making data usable.

For example:

You play a blockchain game, and your achievements and items can be recorded in real-time without being expensive;

Your DAO vote is permanently verifiable and cannot be deleted;

Even if you have trained an AI model that can directly store version snapshots, you won't be afraid of losing them or being tampered with...

Now I understand a bit: it's not about "how to store", but rather "how to use".

On the technical level, I did some digging (after all, I can't just rely on feelings to fool myself). Irys is actually a chain designed specifically for data, unlike traditional blockchains that stuff everything in. That's why its test network can reach 100,000 TPS, and its storage costs are 20 times lower than Arweave... I wasn't particularly sensitive to these numbers before, but to put it in perspective: uploading something used to feel like waiting in line at a train station during the Spring Festival, and now it's like swiping a subway card to enter the station, "beep" and you're through.

If you're like me, without a technical background but have been discouraged by "on-chain storage", I really suggest you give it a try. You don't need to start by writing contracts; just upload a photo or a piece of text to experience that feeling of "instant transfer and permanence" and you'll understand.

Sometimes I feel that good technology shouldn't be something that torments people, but rather it should quietly integrate into life—just like we don't say "I'm going to turn on 4G to send a message," but rather we just say "I'll send you a voice message."

Maybe after a while, we won't say "I want to put the data on the chain," but just: "I'll store it for a moment, and it will be ready soon."