Lens Protocol Set to Be a Major Winner of ZKsync's Token Launch

The decentralised social media protocol launched by Aave founder Stani Kulechov is set to be one of the biggest winners of ZKsync's token launch.

Lens Protocol, a decentralised social media undertaking, is poised to reap significant rewards from ZKsync's recent token launch.

ZKsync representatives reportedly allocated a substantial tranche of tokens to Lens for building on the protocol, as disclosed by a source privy to the deal.

The precise number of tokens remains undisclosed, yet competitors vying to attract Lens to their blockchains reportedly withdrew from the bidding once Lens representatives revealed an offer of approximately 0.5% of the total ZK token supply.

With the current ZK token price hovering around $0.21, this allocation would equate to $22.4 million.

Officials from Matter Labs, the primary developer behind ZKsync, and Avara, the parent company overseeing Lens, declined to comment on the matter.

In May, Kulechov announced an initiative to create a new iteration of Lens on ZKsync.

On Monday, Matter Labs, the core developer behind ZKsync, airdropped 3.6 billion tokens to around 700,000 wallets.

As part of this distribution, Aave, the lending protocol founded by Kulechov, received about 8.3 million tokens, and Lens received about 5.6 million, according to a Github repository linked from a main ZKsync account.

At current prices, this initial allocation is valued at around $3 million.

“There are a lot of projects that are ZK-native and non-ZK-native that have some sort of allocation,” Stani Kulechov, the founder and CEO of Avara, told DL News.

Kulechov expressed uncertainty regarding the precise allocation for Lens.

“It’s up to the Lens community to decide what to do with those [tokens] based on the LIP process, our Lens Improvement Proposals that anyone can create.”

Behind the scenes, bidding wars unfold as blockchain ecosystems vie to entice projects to build on their networks.

During the final stages of the last crypto bull run in 2022, Polygon Labs paid Starbucks to experiment with NFTs, as reported by CoinDesk.

Other blockchain networks, such as Starkware or Manta, typically offer millions of dollars in grants for projects to build on their protocols.

While these deals are not publicly disclosed, they are a common occurrence.

“That’s the nature of the industry,” remarked the source familiar with the Lens deal.

Ben Weiss is a Dubai Correspondent at DL News. Got a tip? Email him at bweiss@dlnews.com.