Lens Protocol hands over stewardship to Mask Network

Stani Kulechov, founder of Aave and Lens Protocol, announced that stewardship of Lens Protocol is being transferred to the Mask Network team, the builders behind Orb, as Lens shifts its focus toward deeper application-layer development.

In a post on X, Kulechov said the team spent years building some of the most important onchain financial primitives before expanding that vision to social primitives that users truly own. Lens Protocol and its underlying onchain rails — including advanced decentralized data storage for content governed by smart contracts — were designed to provide neutral social infrastructure that developers can rely on to build consumer-grade applications capable of reaching mainstream users.

According to Kulechov, the transition marks the next phase of Lens’ evolution, with Mask Network taking the lead in advancing the ecosystem at the application layer. He emphasized that Lens’ social primitives will remain fully open source and continue to serve as foundational infrastructure for anyone building decentralized social applications.

The original Lens team will remain involved as technical advisors, while refocusing their efforts on innovation in their core area of expertise: DeFi.