There's big news in the crypto social scene today. Lens just launched permissionless signups 👀 This means that anyone can now create a Lens profile without needing an invite, opening up the decentralized social network to a broader audience.  Accordingly, this update brings Lens to par with Farcaster, which rolled out permissionless access in October 2023 and is the current king of the hill among crypto social platforms.  Farcaster has seen explosive growth since then, particularly after the launch of Farcaster Frames—interactive postable apps—earlier this year.  So the main question right now is clear: can Lens catch up to Farcaster’s traction with its own second wind now that it’s gone permissionless?

While many may initially perceive $DEGEN as another memecoin, its role in the Farcaster ecosystem transcends this label. It has become a true community token, supporting talented artists and developers who are building NFTs and other use cases around it.

Last week I wrote an article a few weeks ago outlining what is Permissionless Identity and why it matters. This week I wanted to cover an example of a ecosystem/protocol/app that is the perfect example of Permissionless Identity and why it's better than most web2 counterparts.Let's get into it ☕️