Decentralized finance (DeFi) platform Aave launches Lens Protocol, a decentralized social networking platform on Ethereum’s layer 2 scaling network Polygon.
The open-source “Web3, smart contracts-based social graph” is based on an ecosystem of dynamic non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and is named after lens culinaris, a plant that has a symbiotic interaction with soil microorganisms.
Users build NFT-based accounts that “contain the history of all posts, mirrors, comments, and other content you contribute,” and NFTs also symbolize content and followers on the platform.
Feature of the Lens Protocol
On Lens, users will own their data, and applications will be able to connect to the open social graph. Users can collect published work by creators on the platform and re-publish it through a “mirror” feature—which acts as a referral link, earning the sharer a cut from anyone who collects the original content via the mirror.
According to its website, Lens Protocol is also looking into DAO profiles and social-based verification.
Aave’s move into social media
Aave’s foray into social media has been in the works for a while. Aave founder and CEO Stani Kulechov said in July 2021 that the DeFi behemoth was working on a Twitter competitor (in a tweet, ironically).
The platform was supposed to launch on Ethereum at first. However, the new introduction reveals that Lens Protocol is based on Polygon, a layer 2 scaling solution.
“We believe that content creators should own their audiences in a permissionless approach,” Kulechov told Decrypt at the time. “Anyone may construct new user experiences by leveraging the same on-chain social network and data.”
He said, “Twitter generates all the cash from your tweets and the information you share, and Twitter selects which of your tweets acquire traction through the algorithm.”
Kulechov said that Twitter does not allow users to monetise their tweets and retweets and that users must “start from scratch” if they go to another network.
Lens Protocol’s developers claim in an open letter that “We, the content creators of the world, deserve to hold the power and control over what we publish,” and that “We, the content creators of the world, deserve to hold the power and control over what we publish.”