Scaling Decentralized Social Is Tough — Lens Protocol Claims to Have a Solution

‘Momoka’ stores transactions off-chain to achieve higher transactions per second, the team says

article-image

StockStyle/Shutterstock.com modified by Blockworks

share

Twitter at peak usage, might process 25,000 transactions per second. For a Web3 social layer to compete, it must be able to handle a similar number without sacrificing the ideals of decentralization: user sovereignty and security.

Lens Protocol, a leading attempt at a decentralized social graph, launched Momoka, an attempt to address its scaling needs with what is described as “an optimistic layer-3 hyperscaling solution.”

Momoka — which is available in closed beta for developers as of Wednesday — will potentially reduce gas costs and increase data throughput for the Polygon proof-of-stake-based social protocol, by allowing builders to store transactions off chain, the developers at Aave, the company that created Lens Protocol, said in a statement.

“To be competitive with web2, decentralized social must scale. With the ability to support mass consumer adoption, we’ll see continued web3 innovation,” said Stani Kulechov, CEO of Aave Companies and founder of Lens Protocol.

Despite these transactions being moved off the Polygon proof-of-stake chain, with Momoka they will be available and verifiable via off-chain storage layers, to cut down on limitations associated with blocktime and blockspace, according to the statement. 

A Lens Protocol blog post further explained that these “data availability layers” can hold more information for on-chain assets such as NFTs.

“Storing data on-chain is expensive, and EVM machines can only process a limited number of transactions per block based on maximum gas limits a block is configured to handle,” it said.
Blockworks previously reported that Lens Protocol had over 100,000 users as of February and were working to bring over 100 applications to market, including decentralized Twitter alternative Lenster.

Updated April 27, 2023 at 6:20 pm ET: Lens Protocol changed the name of its layer-3 scaling solution from Bonsai to Momoka on April 27, a day after the initial launch.


Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:

Tags

Upcoming Events

Old Billingsgate

Mon - Wed, October 13 - 15, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

Industry City | Brooklyn, NY

TUES - THURS, JUNE 24 - 26, 2025

Permissionless IV serves as the definitive gathering for crypto’s technical founders, developers, and builders to come together and create the future.If you’re ready to shape the future of crypto, Permissionless IV is where it happens.

Brooklyn, NY

SUN - MON, JUN. 22 - 23, 2025

Blockworks and Cracked Labs are teaming up for the third installment of the Permissionless Hackathon, happening June 22–23, 2025 in Brooklyn, NY. This is a 36-hour IRL builder sprint where developers, designers, and creatives ship real projects solving real problems across […]

recent research

Research Report Templates.png

Research

The convergence of DePIN and energy generation aims to address modern grid challenges by incentivizing distributed generation.

article-image

Togo activist Farida Nabourema is fighting back with Bitcoin

article-image

Roshan Robert told Blockworks that OKX brought him on back in September to plan out its US expansion

article-image

Could we stop using BTC to amplify our short-term risks — and start using it to hedge our long-term ones?

article-image

Sol Strategies will be the tokenized stock platform’s first listing

article-image

Craig Fuller, CEO and founder of FreightWaves, breaks down how tariffs are and will impact shipping and inventories

article-image

This limited-edition run of sparkling water is more for existing traders than crypto newcomers, but mainstream distribution is part of the plan.