Aave passes on stewardship of Lens social protocol to Mask Network

Aave, a leading decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol, has shifted stewardship of the social infrastructure protocol Lens to Mask Network, tasking the browser extension with developing consumer-facing social applications. At the same time, Lens continues to operate as open-source infrastructure.

The change was disclosed by Lens and Aave founder Stani Kulechov in an X post on Tuesday, January 20. Kulechov said Aave will refocus on DeFi and limit its involvement with Lens to providing technical advisory support in the future.

He added that Mask Network was selected as the ideal steward due to its long-standing focus on integrating blockchain functionality into social and messaging platforms. Under the new arrangement, the Web3 firm will lead Lens’s next phase of development, particularly its applications and product strategy.

However, it is worth noting that neither Lens nor Aave considered this move an acquisition or a withdrawal from social infrastructure, even though the announcement described it as a change in “stewardship.”

This finding confused individuals, prompting reporters to reach out to Lens for clarity on the change, but the social infrastructure protocol declined to respond.

Lens changes its leadership structure 

Under this revised setup, sources with knowledge of the situation alleged that Mask Network will manage consumer-focused activities, such as decision-making on product roadmaps, designing user experiences, and overseeing day-to-day operations for social applications built on Lens. 

To further specify the Web3 company’s responsibilities, these sources noted that the firm will implement several improvements to apps such as Orb and develop a strategy outlining how products created on Lens will be marketed and delivered to its users.

Some key elements of the protocol, such as its on-chain social graph, profiles, follows, and smart contracts, are set to remain unchanged, maintaining an open-source setup and keeping it publicly accessible, according to a statement from Lens and Aave.

Still, individuals have raised concerns about this transition, claiming that it raises more questions than it answers. While this move occurred, there was no change in ownership of the protocol, intellectual property, treasury, or governance control.

In an attempt to address the controversy raised, Aave declared that it will maintain its role as a technical advisor and offer recommendations on protocol-level options, without managing the development of the social infrastructure protocol’s products. In other words, this transition minimizes Aave’s function from developing and overseeing social products to managing its social infrastructure.

Since its launch in 2022, Lens Protocol has been viewed as a Web3-native social protocol that grants users control over their social identities and content via on-chain profiles and non-fungible tokens (NFTs). 

Later, the Lens Protocol encountered several updates that reinforced this concept. For instance, significant changes were carried out in 2023. At this moment, Kulechov emphasized that Lens Protocol is not designed to serve as a front-end platform; rather, it is meant to function as a shared social layer that allows both Web3 and Web2 applications to connect to a common social graph and user community. 

Kulechov further explained that the shared audience in Lens plays a key role in its operation, as it can assist developers seeking to address major issues such as the “cold start” problem frequently encountered by new social platforms. It also enables app coexistence without user competition.

Vitalik Buterin praises the development of blockchain technology 

After the announcement of the transition, Vitalik Buterin, the co-founder of Ethereum, commented on the move. He began by praising Lens’s evolution. Afterwards, Buterin admitted that the Aave team has done an outstanding job of managing Lens to date. He expressed his optimism regarding the future of the social infrastructure protocol.

Other topics the co-founder covered included decentralized social platforms, noting that the rivalry enabled by shared data layers is important for enhanced online conversations. 

Buterin shared a post dated Wednesday, January 21, stressing that,  “if we want a better society, we need better mass communication tools,” adding that, “decentralization helps achieve this by allowing a shared data layer where anyone can create their own client on top.” 

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