Published
2 years ago on
February 08, 2022
Table of Contents
- Twitter Announcement
- Supporting NFT-Based Profiles
- Interoperability And Composability
- Grants Program
- Launch Timing
Aave has made the leap from Decentralized Finance (DeFi) to social media when it officially debuted “Lens.” Lens was launched after months of teasing by the DeFi giant, with Aave finally unveiling the social media ecosystem on Monday.
Twitter Announcement
The Lens Protocol was officially unveiled by Aave founder Stani Kulechov, who announced the launch on Twitter, describing Aave’s latest project as an “open, composable [Web 3] social media protocol to allow anyone to create a non-custodial social media profile and build new social media applications.”
Aave has dedicated a significant chunk of resources towards the development of Lens since the beginning of 2021.
Supporting NFT-Based Profiles
Lens was originally envisaged as a “Twitter for Ethereum” but has significantly expanded its scope, with plans to support an array of social media platforms on a shared protocol layer. According to the Twitter thread announcing Lens, NFTs are at the center of Lens, with the thread stating.
“Profile NFTs are the main primitive of the Lens Protocol. These dynamic NFTs are composable, non-custodial & permissionless. Individual addresses can own profile NFTs, an address can have multiple profile NFTs & a profile NFT can be owned & run by a DAO via a multisig wallet!”
Users will be able to create NFT-based profiles which can store posts, publications, and follower history. It also features revenue sharing features for any content hosted on IPFS.
Interoperability And Composability
Lens will feature interoperability and composability as key critical components, with the platform’s website elaborating on the name of the protocol being inspired by the “Lens Culinaris” plant. The Lens Culinaris plant is a tall branched plant that has a symbiotic relationship with certain bacteria present in the soil, providing nourishment and allowing the ecosystem to thrive.
Lens works in the same manner, with the platform enabling developers to build an array of applications with a shared user base. Speaking in an interview, Aave founder Stani Klechov stated,
“The cool part is that every app will expand the social graph, essentially there is less need for developers to growth hack for users; instead, the focus can be shifted towards better and more humane user experience.”
Grants Program
The Lens website has also announced a grants program, allowing developers to build applications on the protocol. There are also plans to create a “homebrewed” social app that would act as a demonstrator, showing how the platform can be leveraged. Kulechov stated that the social application would be released sometime in the first quarter of 2022. Lens is currently live on Polygon’s Mumbai testnet, with details of the mainnet launch yet to be revealed.
Launch Timing
The Launch of Lens comes at a difficult time for permissionless social media platforms, which are currently in the eye of a storm. Recently, Ethereum Name Service (ENS) core team member, Brantly Millegan, was removed from his post after old tweets that he had made condemning homosexuality and transgender people resurfaced on Twitter.
Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.
