Access Granted: Lens Protocol Shifts to Permissionless Model

Table of Contents

• Lens Protocol Open To All
• Community Wanted Permissionless
• Limitless Access To Build On Lens
• Decentralization of Social Networks (DeSo) 

Aave's social layer Lens Protocol announced that it has gone permissionless, i.e., it has opened access for everyone to join and build.

Lens Protocol Open To All

The social media platform behind the DeFi lending protocol Aave has moved into a “permissionless” phase. Lens Protocol will now allow anyone access to join the network and build on top of it by creating an on-chain NFT for their profile. As a result of this, developers and creators can pay a minimal fee of either 10 MATIC tokens or approximately $10.30 through a credit card to gain access to the platform. 

The news was announced by the Web3 software firm Avara, previously known as Aave Companies and the parent company behind Aave and Lens. 

Aave CEO Stani Kulechov tweeted the news on X.com, 

“After two years of building a decentralized social protocol, we are excited to announce that Lens is now permissionless and open for everyone to join!”

Community Wanted Permissionless

Most Web2-based social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram do not offer user ownership and control over their online identities. When the beta version of Lens was first introduced in February 2022, it acted as an on-chain alternative where users could maintain ownership over their digital identities, relationships, and content. 

The Aave community has been pushing for permissionless access to Lens Protocol for months. According to Kulechov, 

“As we built out Lens’s functionality over the past 18 months, we heard ongoing feedback that made one thing clear: the community wanted to go permissionless.”

Limitless Access To Build On Lens

Now, developers worldwide have limitless access to the protocol to build whatever experiences they want and create new use cases and business models. They can even customize their content viewership and monetize it through tokens. Building new apps on Lens is even simpler, as its ready-made social graph allows them to leverage existing relationships and profiles instead of starting from scratch. 

Users can interact with decentralized applications or dApps within its ecosystems through NFTs that function as user profiles. These profiles were previously restricted to selected users but now have become “permissionless,” i.e., open to all for use. 

Decentralization of Social Networks (DeSo) 

The decentralization of social media platforms has created an increasingly competitive environment, with multiple platforms striving to win an edge over each other in terms of user involvement. The most notable competition for the Lens protocol is Farcaster, which had already gone permissionless in October 2023 after debuting in Optimism. 

Another decentralized social (DeSo) network, Bluesky, which is being touted as strong competition for X.com and is also backed by Twitter founder Jack Dorsey, has already opened up access, bringing in over 800,000 new users in a single day. 

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.