A full deep-dive into Lens Protocol: From its explosive 2022 launch to today’s slowdown
(1/7)
Lens Protocol started in 2022 with a bold promise: giving people true ownership of their social identity. Profiles, posts, followers, everything stored on-chain instead of controlled by big platforms. Backed by major investors and early excitement, over half a million profiles were minted within months. Many of us OG contributors joined in the early days, building, posting, and helping the ecosystem grow.
(2/7)
The early phase felt powerful. Daily activity crossed twenty thousand transactions, community-led apps like Lenster (now https://t.co/Vmy8HH3iQE), Phaver, and Orb gave Lens a real shot at becoming a Twitter alternative. Tipping creators became common, especially using tokens like BONSAI. Millions of interactions were recorded, and the feeling was simple: this is what a real on-chain social network should look like.
(3/7)
One unforgettable moment showed what Lens could be. In April 2024, artist Violetta Zironi posted an unreleased track on Orb. Within twelve hours, she received an eight-thousand-dollar anonymous tip. She said it was life-changing. These were the moments that kept OG contributors motivated. The energy was real, and creators felt genuinely supported.
(4/7)
By 2023–2024, momentum slowed. Gas costs rose, UX stayed complicated, and the ecosystem lacked a clear token or reward model. Major apps like butterfly, Phaver shut down, and https://t.co/Vmy8HH3iQE announced the team’s exit despite having hundreds of thousands of users. Activity dropped to almost one or two thousand transactions per day. Even after the Lens Chain launch, deployment remained slow and developer activity fell sharply.
(5/7)
For thousands of contributors who stayed active for three years, this period felt disappointing. People who posted daily, tipped creators, onboarded communities, and invested both time and money received no retroactive rewards, no badges, and no recognition. OGs kept the ecosystem alive, yet often felt overlooked. The BONSAI hack added another layer of loss, when liquidity was wiped and promised airdrops disappeared.
(6/7)
At the same time, the contrast with Farcaster became obvious. Farcaster rewarded its users consistently with weekly USDC payouts, developer incentives, and multiple engagement-based reward systems. Their ecosystem grew rapidly because contributors felt valued. Lens, despite having the early advantage and a more flexible graph, struggled to match that momentum.
(7/7)
Lens is not dead; it is simply dormant. It still has strong foundations: Ethereum security, low fees, and a social graph that users truly own. But it needs decisive action. A fair retroactive airdrop for contributors, a safer and audited tipping system, weekly incentive pools, better mobile apps, and a community-led governance model. With these steps, Lens can return stronger and reclaim the energy it once had. The next chapter depends on recognizing the people who built the first one.
@LC@StaniKulechov@orb_club
an AI agent paying for API calls on its own - $0.0003 to $0.03 per request, settled in USDC in under a second ⚡
this is x402 nanopayments on @arc Circle's L1 where USDC is the native gas token.
ran the demo today
3 days left on the Base Rush leaderboard 🔥
week 2 still ongoing
🥇 $5 → 64,299 pts
🥈 $3 → 57,045 pts
🥉 $1 → 18,787 pts
That 3rd spot is sitting there waiting for someone to take it.
All you gotta do -
📲 Download Base App
🎮 Play at https://t.co/gRI8jdVl5w
✅ Submit your score onchain
Monday I'm dropping the winners.
Will your wallet be on it? 👇
@base #BaseRush @jessepollak #buildonbase
ChatLLM - Use The Best AI For Your Use Case
Front-end coding - Opus 4.7
Back-end coding - GPT 5.5 xHigh
Visual understanding- Flash 3.5
Cheap - DeepSeek Flash
Video - Seedance 2.0
Image - GPT Image-2.0
Voice - Flash Live
Writing - Gemini 3.1 Pro
Real Time - Grok 4.3
ALL IN ONE PLACE
Building the first AI trading psychology agent on Base.
Every tool out there helps you trade MORE.
This one knows when you shouldn't.
It reads your onchain behavior in real time and steps in before the liquidation - not after.
Base App. Soon. 🔵
@buildonbase@baseapp@base
🏆 Base Rush - this week's rewards just PAID OUT, on-chain. 💸
The top 3 climbed the leaderboard and got rewarded straight on Base:
🥇 $5 → 0x5B08…D2F0
🥈 $3 → primedays.base.eth
🥉 $1 → sharibshai.base.eth
Real game, real rewards, every single week - and the board just reset to zero, so it's a fresh race where anyone can take #1. 🔥
Think you can make next week's list? Open the Base App, search "baserush", and run 👇 🔵 https://t.co/kMipWeGPYu
@buildonbase@jessepollak@baseapp #giveaway
🏆 TOP 3 LEADERBOARD Weekly Rewards are LIVE on
Every week, the Top 3 players on Base Rush receive rewards.
This Monday, rewards will be announced on Twitter for the current Top 3 on the leaderboard.
Want in? Here’s all you need to do:
→ Download the Base app
→ Head over to https://t.co/gRI8jdVl5w
→ Play and submit your high score on-chain
→ Hold your position in the Top 3
Every week, a snapshot of the top wallet addresses is taken at 12:00 PM sharp.
That snapshot decides who gets rewarded.
Miss the cutoff = Miss the reward. Simple as that.
Weekly grind. Weekly rewards. On-chain. Transparent.
Stay tuned on Twitter for the official reward announcement this Monday. 👀
This is your sign to start playing. 🎮⛓️
#BaseRush @buildonbase@base
⚡ Base Rush is LIVE - and the clock is ticking.
Every week the top players get rewarded right on the Base App, on-chain, purely for skill -and the reward window is short, so the sooner you jump in, the more you can grab. This is just the start; bigger rewards are on the way.
Here's the move: open the Base App, search "baserush", and start running. Build a daily streak and you win twice - every check-in is a real on-chain transaction on Base, and it stacks up rewards too.
So… can you beat this score? 👇 The leaderboard is already heating up. Take the top spot - and if you hit any issue, just reply, I'm listening.
Ready to run? 🏃♂️💨
🔵 Built on Base · https://t.co/gRI8jdVl5w
@base@buildonbase
A full deep-dive into Lens Protocol: From its explosive 2022 launch to today’s slowdown
(1/7)
Lens Protocol started in 2022 with a bold promise: giving people true ownership of their social identity. Profiles, posts, followers, everything stored on-chain instead of controlled by big platforms. Backed by major investors and early excitement, over half a million profiles were minted within months. Many of us OG contributors joined in the early days, building, posting, and helping the ecosystem grow.
(2/7)
The early phase felt powerful. Daily activity crossed twenty thousand transactions, community-led apps like Lenster (now https://t.co/Vmy8HH3iQE), Phaver, and Orb gave Lens a real shot at becoming a Twitter alternative. Tipping creators became common, especially using tokens like BONSAI. Millions of interactions were recorded, and the feeling was simple: this is what a real on-chain social network should look like.
(3/7)
One unforgettable moment showed what Lens could be. In April 2024, artist Violetta Zironi posted an unreleased track on Orb. Within twelve hours, she received an eight-thousand-dollar anonymous tip. She said it was life-changing. These were the moments that kept OG contributors motivated. The energy was real, and creators felt genuinely supported.
(4/7)
By 2023–2024, momentum slowed. Gas costs rose, UX stayed complicated, and the ecosystem lacked a clear token or reward model. Major apps like butterfly, Phaver shut down, and https://t.co/Vmy8HH3iQE announced the team’s exit despite having hundreds of thousands of users. Activity dropped to almost one or two thousand transactions per day. Even after the Lens Chain launch, deployment remained slow and developer activity fell sharply.
(5/7)
For thousands of contributors who stayed active for three years, this period felt disappointing. People who posted daily, tipped creators, onboarded communities, and invested both time and money received no retroactive rewards, no badges, and no recognition. OGs kept the ecosystem alive, yet often felt overlooked. The BONSAI hack added another layer of loss, when liquidity was wiped and promised airdrops disappeared.
(6/7)
At the same time, the contrast with Farcaster became obvious. Farcaster rewarded its users consistently with weekly USDC payouts, developer incentives, and multiple engagement-based reward systems. Their ecosystem grew rapidly because contributors felt valued. Lens, despite having the early advantage and a more flexible graph, struggled to match that momentum.
(7/7)
Lens is not dead; it is simply dormant. It still has strong foundations: Ethereum security, low fees, and a social graph that users truly own. But it needs decisive action. A fair retroactive airdrop for contributors, a safer and audited tipping system, weekly incentive pools, better mobile apps, and a community-led governance model. With these steps, Lens can return stronger and reclaim the energy it once had. The next chapter depends on recognizing the people who built the first one.
@LC@StaniKulechov@orb_club