Aave Launches Web3, Smart Contracts-Based Social Media Platform Built on Polygon

The decentralized finance (defi) lending platform Aave has revealed the launch of a Web3 social media platform called the Lens Protocol. According to the team, Lens is a “Web3, smart contracts-based social graph” that is built using the Polygon blockchain.

Defi Project Aave Drops the Lens Protocol, Platform’s Intent Is to ‘Empower Creators to Own the Links Between Themselves and Their Community’

For quite some time now, decentralized social media has been a Holy Grail to many cryptocurrency advocates. While it is obvious that social media platforms could leverage crypto assets so contributors can utilize micro-payments, blockchain can also be utilized for a decentralized version of censorship-resistant social media ownership. On February 8, the defi lending project Aave revealed the launch of the Lens Protocol, a Web3 social media platform that uses the proof-of-stake (PoS) network Polygon.

Aave details in a recently published blog post about the subject, that the Web3 Lens Protocol is “designed to empower creators to own the links between themselves and their community, forming a fully composable, user-owned social graph.” The developers say the protocol is “built from the ground up with modularity in mind, allowing new features to be added while ensuring immutable user-owned content and social relationships.”

Aave’s Lens Protocol introductory post adds:

Since users own their data, they can bring it to any application built on top of Lens Protocol. As the true owners of their content, creators no longer need to worry about losing their content, audience, and livelihood based on the whims of an individual platform’s algorithms and policies. Additionally, each application using the Lens Protocol benefits the whole ecosystem, turning the zero-sum game into a collaborative one.

Lens Protocol to Feature Profile NFTs, IPFS Support, Social-Based Verification

Over the last few years, there have been numerous attempts to meld blockchain tech and micro-payments into the world of social media. Many platforms still exist like Memo.cash, Hive, Steemit, Mediachain, Fluz Fluz, Peepeth, Minds, Society2, and Civil. Aave’s Lens Protocol will use a number of different features including non-fungible token (NFT) technology. The main primitive of the Lens Protocol will be Profile NFTs and NFT profiles can be followed.

In terms of publication, Aave says the platform will support the Inter-Planetary File System (IPFS) and various media types. Lens Protocol users will be able to collect the publications and re-share things with a mirror feature as well. “By amplifying content, you can earn a cut from anyone who collects the original content through your share,” Aave’s blog post details. Aave further says Lens Protocol will deploy “fair launch drop mechanics” and the Lens Protocol will feature social-based verification.

At the time of writing, Aave’s Lens Protocol is running on Polygon’s Mumbai testnet and the platform has been audited by Peckshield. Lens Protocol is open source and Aave is looking for developers to contribute and it has also launched a bug bounty for the platform as well.