Aave Hands Lens Protocol Stewardship to Mask, Refocuses on DeFi

• Aave transferred Lens stewardship to Mask Network while refocusing on DeFi development.
• Mask will lead consumer product execution, including Lens-based social apps like Orb.
• Lens remains open-source and permissionless, with Aave staying involved as a technical adviser.

Aave, the decentralized finance giant, has transferred the responsibility of managing the social infrastructure protocol Lens to Mask Network, delegating consumer-facing execution while moving back to an advisory role that focuses on the infrastructure of the protocol. This marks a new strategy for Aave, which now wants to focus on the development of DeFi rather than being at the forefront of social product development.

Statements from Lens and Aave founder Stani Kulechov confirmed the transition. In a Tuesday post on X, Kulechov said Aave will narrow its involvement to technical advisory support as it concentrates resources on its core DeFi mission. Meanwhile, Mask Network will take responsibility for driving the next phase of Lens development, especially at the product layer, where consumer adoption is won or lost.

The press release presented the transition as a “stewardship” handoff, rather than an acquisition. Neither side characterized the transition as a sale, shutdown, or exit of social infrastructure. Rather, both sides highlighted continuity: Lens remains open-source, permissionless, and intended as shared infrastructure for multiple social applications.

Mask takes charge of consumer execution

In the new structure, Mask Network will be at the forefront of consumer-facing product work in Lens-based apps and experiences. This includes setting the direction for product roadmap, optimizing user experience design, overseeing day-to-day operational leadership, and influencing distribution strategies for Lens-enabled social tools.

Mask’s role also includes the acceleration of consumer apps such as Orb, as well as the definition of how Lens apps will reach mainstream users, aside from the crypto-native audience. Since Mask already focuses on integrating Web3 tools into social and messaging platforms, the handover aligns with its existing product DNA.

At the same time, Lens will keep its infrastructure-first architecture intact. The protocol’s foundational components, its on-chain social graph, profiles, follows, and smart contracts will remain open-source and permissionless. Developers can still build clients and applications without requiring approval, preserving Lens’ original goal of enabling an ecosystem rather than a single platform.

Aave stays involved, but limits scope

Aave will not disappear from Lens, but it will change posture. Instead of leading product development, Aave will act as a technical adviser, contributing input on protocol-level decisions. This shift narrows Aave’s role from building and operating consumer products to supporting infrastructure stability and architectural direction.

Lens and Aave did not indicate any transfer of governance control, protocol ownership, intellectual property rights, or treasuries as part of the transition. That detail matters because it suggests the protocol stays structurally neutral while stewardship focuses on execution rather than control.

Lens always aimed to function as infrastructure

Lens’ positioning as infrastructure predates the handover. Aave initially launched Lens Protocol in 2022 as a Web3-native social layer that enables users to own identity and content through on-chain profiles and NFT-based primitives.

In 2023, Kulechov further clarified this notion, stating that Lens was never intended to function as a self-contained front-end solution. Rather, the goal of Lens was to serve as a common social layer that would enable multiple applications, both Web3 and Web2, to connect to the same social graph. This approach helps solve the “cold start” problem in social, where new platforms struggle because they start without users or relationships.

Vitalik backs decentralized social and Lens momentum

Following the transition, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin publicly supported Lens’ evolution. He praised Aave’s stewardship, said the team “has done a great job,” and expressed excitement about what Lens could become over the next year.

Buterin also used the moment to highlight why decentralized social matters. In a Wednesday post, he argued that society needs better mass communication tools, and decentralization can help by enabling competition on top of a shared data layer. With open social graphs, developers can build alternative clients without forcing users to abandon identities and networks.

He further added that he has already gone back to decentralized social media platforms in 2026 and that he has been using Firefly, which is a multi-client supporting Lens, Farcaster, X, and Bluesky, for his posts and readings this year.

For Lens, the shift puts a consumer-focused operator at the helm while keeping infrastructure open. For Aave, it strengthens a return to DeFi-first execution. And for decentralized social, it signals a new phase where the battle shifts from protocol design to user experience and distribution.

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