Safe: everything you need to know about SAFE

What is Safe?

Safe is a smart contract wallet solution that gives users and organizations more control and security when managing crypto. The project was known for a long time as Gnosis Safe and is now used by many teams and individual users.

In contrast to a standard wallet, Safe does not revolve around a single private key. Instead, multiple keys can manage a wallet together. This makes Safe particularly suitable for situations where security, collaboration and control are important, such as DAO treasuries or company funds.

How does Safe work?

Safe operates via smart contracts on the blockchain. A wallet can be set up with multiple owners, whereby it is predetermined how many approvals are needed to execute a transaction. Only when those conditions are met is a transaction executed.

This setup makes it possible to diversify risks. Losing a single key does not directly result in a loss of funds.

The SAFE token

SAFE is the token associated with the Safe ecosystem. The token is used for:

• governance within the Safe protocol
• participation in decisions on upgrades and parameters
• Steering the further development of the Safe ecosystem via governance

SAFE is not a gas token and is not used for daily wallet transactions. The role of the token is primarily in governance and protocol development.

The technology behind Safe

Safe uses smart contract wallets that run on top of existing blockchains. The infrastructure is largely on-chain and open-source, allowing other projects and developers to integrate Safe into their own applications.

An important technical component is account abstraction. Account abstraction means that a crypto wallet is no longer a simple key but a smart account with extra logic. Safe is built as a smart contract wallet and is often seen as an early form of account abstraction. The protocol also supports additional functionalities, such as bundling actions, sponsored transactions, and supplementary security rules.

Safe operates on multiple networks, including Ethereum and various Layer-2s. This allows users to choose for themselves where they deploy their wallets.

The Safe ecosystem consists of, among other things:

• Multisig wallets for teams and DAOs
• Safe Apps: integrations with DeFi, NFT and governance tools
• Infrastructure for account abstraction
• Integrations with Layer-2 networks

Safe thus primarily serves as a base layer for secure wallet management, on which other applications can build.

Benefits of Safe

• Strong security: the multisig structure enables extra approvals before transactions are executed
• Supports modern wallet functions: connects to developments such as account abstraction
• Multichain deployable: available on multiple blockchains

Disadvantages of Safe

• Slower for simple actions: extra approvals can make transactions slower
• More complex than a standard wallet: requires more explanation and settings than a regular wallet
• More dependencies: use with multiple signatories requires good coordination among those involved

Who are the founders of Safe?

Safe started as Gnosis Safe within the Gnosis ecosystem, but later grew into an independent project, with Lukas Schor and Richard Meissner as its co-founders.