Decentralized Social Mask Network/MaskDAO Reveals its Major Upgrade to Spin off Firefly, Next.ID and others
Mask Network, the leading decentralized social protocol, announced on February 21, 2025, a major restructuring of its ecosystem MaskDAO which now manages four projects and applications. In this strategic move, three promising Web3 social projects: Next.ID, Web3.Bio, and Firefly are spin-offs and all under MaskDAO. After the spinoff, it allowed each project to expand its own team, to innovate and grow the product, as well as tokenomics simulation for fundraising. Mask Network will remain its pioneer position in decentralized social, and together with its venture arm Bonfire Union will continue to build and invest in decentralized social networks, infrastructure, and creative contents with the goal of making Web3 more accessible to all.
MaskDAO said spinning off these projects allows them full potential to grow and expand and “open the door to a larger user base” in each domain.
Suji Yan, founder of Mask Network and MaskDAO said the spinoff is vital and occurring at the right time. “We are one step closer to achieving a new and open internet through building and growing the decentralized social network ecosystem, ” he said. “We have positioned ourselves as a Web3 social conglomerate similar to Tencent who has successfully expanded their ecosystem through different business units in investment, gaming, and other applications.”
Suji studied Computer Engineering and Artificial Intelligence at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Dropping out of university at the age of 20, Suji in 2017 founded the decentralized social network Mask Network, which has become a leader in the vibrant decentralized social network ecosystem. In 2022, Suji founded Bonfire Union as a venture arm to strategically invest in decentralized social networks. The newly announced spinoff will allow the three projects mentioned above to pursue independent operations in their respective domains.
Mask Network
Founded in 2017 by a group of young believers in truly free and open internet, the Mask team has aimed to build an easy-to-use bridge from Web 2 to Web 3-era decentralized apps. In 2019, Mask extension started supporting Twitter users with secure, decentralized social messaging, payment networks, file storage and sharing upon the current mainstream social media networks.
To help build the next phase of decentralized social networks, Mask has obtained tens of thousands of users and has raised over US$100 million from private and institutional backers via its venture arm Bonfire Union.
Decentralized social networks are rapidly emerging. The largest decentralized social network, Mastodon, currently at over 2.5 millions users, has become the go-to choice for many users who support the ideals of self-control and autonomy. Beside backing the Mastodon team with donations, the Mask team has been the maintainer of two of the most active instances of Mastodon, mstdn.jp, and mastodon.cloud. The Mask team has also acquired and been operating Pawoo.net, one of the largest Mastodon instances since December 2022.
The team believes that growing decentralized social network ecosystems is the key to achieving a new and open internet.
Next.ID, Web3.Bio and Firefly
Once the Mask extension started to support Web2 social network users with secure, decentralized social messaging, file storage and sharing, one of the major challenges that emerged was Digital Identity Protection. The question was how can we best provide end-to-end encrypted direct messages for secure and private communication?
That’s why in 2021 the team developed Next.ID, as a decentralized and open identity protocol that connects user profiles across Web2 and Web3, enhancing data ownership and mobility. Thanks to Next.ID, developers and projects can utilize a comprehensive and verifiable identity database to create innovative decentralized applications (dApps). As a powerful DID (Decentralized Identity) tool, the project was in discussion with Mastodon for potential integration. The collaboration explores enhancing DID support for Mastodon’s growing user base and the possibility of migrating all data on Mastodon to a distributed, decentralized storage network.
As Ethereum Layer 2 solutions took off in 2021, decentralized social protocols such as ENS (Ethereum Name Service) and Farcaster emerged, creating a need for a unified Web3 identity search solution. This led to the development of Web3.Bio, an advanced Web3-native profile and search platform in 2023. Functioning as a ‘Web3 LinkedIn’, Web3.Bio seamlessly integrates multiple identity protocols including ENS, Farcaster, and Lens to deliver comprehensive Web3 user profiles. The platform features an interactive identity graph, Web3 activity feeds, and reputation scoring systems. Through its powerful Profile API (api.web3.bio) and intuitive identity search capabilities, Web3.Bio simplifies Web3 identity navigation for both users and developers.
When Elon Musk bought Twitter (Now X) in 2022, it began to mute the mainstream social networks. And in February 2023 he ended free access to the API of X. It is a high time to redefine and reclaim data ownership and user autonomy. And it’s up to the Decentralized Social to give people back their freedom to the open, free internet.
There came the new powered app, Firefly was launched as a comprehensive tool for Web3 natives. From social networks X, Lens, Farcaster, to Mirror articles, Gitcoin, Snapshot, and NFT feeds, the app blends them all into a single, seamless interface. As a pioneering third-party platform, Firefly distinguishes itself by maintaining full X functionality while expanding into the decentralized space, forging partnerships with renowned projects across the Web3 ecosystem.
These include decentralized applications such as Fileverse, Snapshot, Polymarket, Mirror, Paragraph, and eth.limo; MPC wallets such as Particle; and NFT platforms like SimpleHash and NFTScan. This ecosystem synergy is further validated by Vitalik Buterin, who has endorsed Firefly’s advanced user experience publicly.
What we believe
We believe that on the journey to the free and open Internet, the decentralized infrastructure and applications are under development at a rapid pace. Onwards and forwards. Never stop building!
About Mask Network/ MaskDAO
Mask Network is a leader in the vibrant decentralized social network ecosystem. In 2019, the Mask Network extension started supporting Twitter users with secure, decentralized social messaging, payment networks, file storage and sharing upon the current mainstream social media networks. With its venture arm, Bonfire Union, Mask strategically invests in decentralized social networks, infrastructure, and creative contents with the goal of making Web3 more accessible to all.
Learn more at mask.io.
Contact us via marketing[at]mask.io.
