Mask Takes the Helm: Advancing Decentralized Social Media From Theory to Mainstream

The vision of decentralized social media has long captivated Web3 builders—a future where users control their identities, creators earn fair value, and no single corporate entity dominates the platform. For years, this remained largely theoretical. Then Lens proved it could work. Now, as Lens enters a transformative phase under new leadership, the ecosystem faces a critical question: how do you scale decentralized social media beyond early adopters to millions of everyday users?

The answer may lie in the partnership announced between Lens and Mask Network, a collaboration that represents a fundamental shift from infrastructure innovation to consumer-grade implementation.

The Foundation: How Lens Proved Decentralized Social Media Could Scale

Lens didn’t start as a finished product—it began as an experiment in what decentralized social media could become. Launched on principles of open, composable, and permissionless infrastructure, the protocol tested whether user-owned social networks could function reliably at real-world scale.

The results spoke for themselves. Over successive iterations, Lens evolved from an early-builder playground to production-grade infrastructure capable of supporting serious applications. The protocol proved its core thesis: decentralized social media can deliver the performance and user experience people expect, while giving individuals genuine ownership over their digital identities and content.

With that foundational mission accomplished, Lens has achieved what many in Web3 considered impossible. The infrastructure now exists, battle-tested and ready. What comes next isn’t better protocols—it’s better products built on top of them.

From Protocol to Product: How Orb Became the Proof Point

Enter Orb, a Web3-native social application purpose-built on Lens. By early 2025, Orb had attracted 50,000 monthly active users by pioneering novel engagement mechanisms—stickerpacks, collectibles, competitions—all structured around creator-first monetization.

Orb’s trajectory illustrates a crucial principle: decentralized social media infrastructure only matters if compelling applications exist on top of it. A powerful protocol with no great apps remains theoretical. A great app built on open infrastructure can reach scale.

This success led to Orb’s acquisition by Mask Network and integration into MaskDAO, the decentralized autonomous organization governing Mask’s growing suite of social products. Alongside Orb, the ecosystem now includes Firefly.social (which has partnered with major projects including Mirror, Paragraph, and Snapshot), Web3.bio, and Next.ID.

Notably, Firefly.social received public recognition from Vitalik Buterin for its user experience design—a signal that decentralized social media platforms are finally approaching the polish consumers expect.

Mask’s Long Bet on Decentralized Social Media

Mask Network’s ascension to steward Lens wasn’t sudden. Since its 2017 founding by Suji Yan, Mask has invested heavily in decentralized social infrastructure. The team began by building browser extensions that brought Web3 capabilities to mainstream platforms, proving the concept that decentralized social media features could integrate seamlessly into existing user workflows.

This hands-on approach shaped Mask’s evolution. The team operated some of Mastodon’s most active instances (mstdn.jp and mastodon.cloud) and acquired Pawoo.net, one of Mastodon’s largest nodes. Through these ventures, Mask developed deep operational experience running decentralized social platforms at scale.

By 2022, Mask formalized its ecosystem approach. The company established Bonfire Union, a venture arm managing two funds totaling $100 million and backing over 120 projects across decentralized social, infrastructure, and creator economies. Rather than building a single platform, Mask has positioned itself as a network orchestrator—what founder Suji Yan describes as the “Tencent of Web3”: multiple interoperable products governed collaboratively.

This philosophy directly aligns with Lens’ evolution. Both organizations share a conviction that decentralized social media must prioritize user ownership while remaining practical, intuitive, and scalable.

Why Infrastructure-to-Product Transition Matters

The shift of stewardship from Avara (which continues in an advisory capacity) to Mask represents a strategic recognition within the ecosystem. Stani Kulechov, Lens founder, articulated the reasoning clearly: “The infrastructure is now open, resilient, and ready to support real consumer products. What comes next is mainstream adoption, and that’s where product leadership becomes essential.”

This distinction is crucial. Building decentralized social media infrastructure requires protocol expertise. Shipping decentralized social media to consumers requires different skills: user experience design, community management, creator tools, monetization mechanisms, and operational discipline at scale.

Mask has demonstrated these capabilities repeatedly. From operating Mastodon infrastructure to shipping Firefly.social to nurturing Orb’s growth, the organization has proven it understands the gap between what’s technically possible and what consumers will actually use.

What Comes Next: From Lab to Everyday Life

As decentralized social media matures, the focus necessarily shifts from “Can we build this?” to “How do we make this useful for billions of people?” Mask’s mandate—as expressed through MaskDAO—is explicit: “Take decentralized social media out of the lab and into everyday life, building products that scale to millions while preserving user ownership.”

This represents the next chapter for the entire ecosystem. Infrastructure architects like Lens have proven the technical foundation works. Now comes the harder challenge: translating open infrastructure into products so intuitive and valuable that non-technical users choose them over centralized alternatives.

Mask and Lens leadership believe this transition will intensify an already emerging trend: the convergence of social platforms and decentralized finance into what could become the economic layer of the internet. User ownership and creator monetization aren’t separate features—they’re interconnected.

The partnership between Mask and Lens, with Avara remaining as strategic advisor, provides a roadmap for how mature Web3 infrastructure transitions from proving concepts to reshaping how billions interact online. Lens laid the foundation. Now Mask is building the neighborhood—bringing decentralized social media from specialized cryptographic experiments into tools that everyday people can inhabit.