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 doesn’t revolve around a single private key. Instead, multiple keys can jointly manage a wallet. This makes Safe particularly suitable for situations where security, collaboration and control are important, such as DAO treasuries or corporate funds.

How does Safe work?

Safe works via smart contracts on the blockchain. A wallet can be set up with multiple owners, with the number of approvals required to execute a transaction determined in advance. Only when those conditions are met is a transaction executed.

This setup makes it possible to diversify risks. One lost key does not directly result in 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 through governance

SAFE is not a gas token and is not used for daily wallet transactions. The role of the token lies mainly 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 additional logic. Safe is built as a smart contract wallet and is often seen as an early form of account abstraction. The protocol also supports extra functionalities, such as bundling actions, sponsored transactions and supplementary security rules.

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

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

Benefits of Safe

• Strong security: the multisig structure allows extra approvals before transactions are executed
• Supports modern wallet features: aligns with developments such as account abstraction
• Multichain enabled: 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: using multiple signatories requires good coordination between those involved

Who are the founders of Safe?

Safe started as Gnosis Safe within the Gnosis ecosystem but later evolved into an independent project whose co-founders are Lukas Schor and Richard Meissner.