New Social Media Platform Turns to NFTs for Digital Ownership

Lens Protocol launches after Aave founder Stani Kulechov’s public push to decentralize social media

article-image

Stani Kulechov, Founder and CEO of AAVE | Blockworks exclusive art by Axel Rangel

share
  • Aave introduced a new protocol as an alternative to traditional social media platforms
  • The Lens Protocol, built on the Polygon blockchain, is powered by NFTs

The team behind DeFi liquidity protocol Aave is unveiling a new way for social media users to own and control their content.

The Lens Protocol is “a permissionless, composable, and decentralized social graph that makes building a Web3 social platform easy,” according to a tweet Monday by Lens Protocol.

The protocol features traditional social media functions, including profiles, comments and sharing posts. Here’s the twist: it is powered by NFTs that allow users to own their content, according to an Aave blog post Monday. The Lens Protocol will be built on the Polygon blockchain.

Baked into the NFTs are a user’s social media history, including posts and comments. Following someone triggers a corresponding NFT to be minted.

A user can also create photos and music through a publication feature, as well as collect publications from accounts they follow.

Stani Kulechov, founder and CEO of Aave, has over the past year hinted at an offering that decentralizes social media.

In a Feb. 5 tweet, he predicted that Web3-native social media will “kill” Twitter.

An open letter drumming up support for Web3-driven social media came out before that, when people were encouraged to cryptographically sign the letter with their wallet.

“We spend time building unique selfhood across these Web2 media platforms, even though we know they are antiquated, centralized systems,” the letter stated. “Web3 brings forth a renewed hope for what social media can be. It offers the ability for us to control how our content is used.”

The Lens Protocol Twitter account went live last month, and Kulechov teased the protocol at the time.

Loading Tweet..

The Aave team also revealed in the Monday blog post a $250,000 grant program to accelerate the growth of Lens Protocol. 

The post did not specify a mainnet launch date. An Aave spokesperson did not immediately return a request for comment.


Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:

Tags

Decoding crypto and the markets. Daily, with Byron Gilliam.

Upcoming Events

Javits Center North | 445 11th Ave

Tues - Thurs, March 24 - 26, 2026

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.

recent research

Unlocked by Template.png

Research

The march toward an interoperable and onchain-by-default internet depends on reliable messaging and value transfer across heterogeneous domains. Crosschain protocols now process >$1.3T in combined annual transfer volume and secure tens of millions of user interactions, yet no single design dominates.

article-image

The goal, per Santiago Santos, is to make crypto a relatable piece of tech for people who may not even understand it

article-image

Stripe stablecoin unit aims to operate under a federal charter enabling regulated stablecoin issuance and custody services

by Blockworks /
article-image

Will TradFi make crypto better or create more problems than it solves?

article-image

Subtle decisions by risk curators saved Aave from significant turmoil

article-image

The new Rootstock Institutional unit aims to connect professional investors to Bitcoin-native yield and liquidity strategies anchored in BTC’s security layer

by Blockworks /
article-image

DOJ files record civil forfeiture against more than 127,000 BTC linked to scam activity

by Blockworks /