CoinClear

Safe (Gnosis Safe)

7.8/10

The multisig standard securing $100B+ — irreplaceable DAO and institutional infrastructure with adoption no competitor comes close to matching.

Updated: February 16, 2026AI Model: claude-4-opusVersion 1

Overview

Safe, formerly known as Gnosis Safe, is the leading smart contract wallet platform in the Ethereum ecosystem. Originally developed as a product within Gnosis (the prediction market and infrastructure company), Safe was spun out as an independent entity in 2022. The core product is a multi-signature (multisig) smart contract wallet that requires M-of-N approvals for transactions, used by DAOs, protocol treasuries, institutional investors, and individuals seeking enhanced security.

The numbers speak for themselves: Safe secures over $100 billion in digital assets, with 10M+ Safe accounts deployed across Ethereum, Polygon, Arbitrum, Optimism, Base, BNB Chain, Avalanche, and other EVM chains. Nearly every major DAO and protocol treasury uses a Safe for fund management — Uniswap, Aave, Lido, ENS, MakerDAO, and hundreds more. The Ethereum Foundation itself uses Safe wallets.

This makes Safe arguably the most critical piece of infrastructure in crypto that most users never directly interact with. A vulnerability in Safe's smart contracts would have cascading, systemic consequences across the entire DeFi ecosystem. Safe's dominance in the multisig market is near-total, and the switching costs for organizations already using Safe are extremely high.

Technology

Smart Contract Wallet Architecture

Safe's core is a modular smart contract wallet that implements multi-signature logic. The wallet contract supports configurable M-of-N threshold signatures (e.g., 3-of-5 signers required). Transactions are proposed, signed off-chain by the required number of signers, and then executed on-chain as a single transaction. The modular architecture allows plugins (called "modules" and "guards") that extend functionality: spending limits, recovery mechanisms, automated transactions, and DeFi integrations.

ERC-4337 and Account Abstraction

Safe has embraced ERC-4337 (Account Abstraction) as the future of smart accounts. Safe{Core} provides the infrastructure for building account-abstracted experiences — enabling gasless transactions, social recovery, session keys, and programmable transaction policies. This positions Safe not just as a multisig tool but as the foundation layer for the next generation of wallet experiences.

Safe{Wallet} and Safe{Core}

The product suite includes Safe{Wallet} (the user-facing interface for managing multisig wallets), Safe{Core} (the developer SDK and AA infrastructure), and SafeNet (a cross-chain orchestration layer). The Safe Transaction Service handles off-chain signature collection and queuing. The architecture is designed for extensibility — third-party developers can build modules that integrate directly into Safe wallets.

Programmability

Safe wallets are fully programmable smart contracts, not just key stores. This enables complex treasury management: time-locked transactions, role-based access control, spending policies, batch transactions, and integration with DeFi protocols. This programmability is what makes Safe indispensable for DAOs — it provides the granular control that protocol governance requires.

Security

Track Record

Safe's smart contracts have secured $100B+ in assets since 2018 without a core contract exploit. This is an extraordinary security track record given the value at stake and the incentive for attackers. The contracts have undergone extensive audits by firms including Runtime Verification, G0 Group, and others.

The 2023 Incident

In 2023, a sophisticated supply chain attack targeted Safe's front-end infrastructure (not the smart contracts). The Lazarus Group (North Korea-linked) compromised the deployment pipeline for the Safe web interface used by Bybit, resulting in a significant theft. This incident highlighted that Safe's smart contract security is excellent, but the off-chain infrastructure (front-ends, transaction services) introduces additional attack vectors. Safe has since hardened its deployment and signing infrastructure.

Module Risk

While Safe's core contracts are battle-tested, the modular architecture introduces risk through third-party modules. A malicious or vulnerable module could potentially drain a Safe wallet if enabled by the signers. Users must carefully evaluate modules they enable — the security of a Safe is only as strong as its weakest enabled module.

Decentralization

Safe{DAO}

The SAFE token launched in 2022 with the spin-out from Gnosis, establishing SafeDAO for governance of the protocol's development direction, treasury, and ecosystem grants. Governance operates through Snapshot voting and on-chain execution. The DAO controls a significant treasury for ecosystem development.

Operational Centralization

While the smart contracts are immutable and decentralized, key infrastructure components are centrally operated: the Safe Transaction Service (which collects and serves off-chain signatures), the Safe web interface, and the relaying infrastructure. If these services go offline, users can still interact with their Safe wallets directly via the smart contracts, but the user experience degrades significantly. This operational centralization is a practical necessity but a decentralization concern.

Validator Independence

Safe doesn't require its own validator set — it inherits security from the underlying blockchain (Ethereum, etc.). This is a strength: Safe doesn't introduce additional consensus assumptions beyond the host chain's security.

Adoption

Market Dominance

Safe's adoption metrics are extraordinary and unmatched by any competitor:

  • $100B+ in total assets secured
  • 10M+ Safe accounts deployed
  • Virtually every major DAO uses Safe for treasury management
  • 30+ EVM chains supported
  • Institutional adoption from crypto-native firms and increasingly from TradFi entrants

The network effects are deeply entrenched. Developers build tools for Safe because that's where the users are. Users choose Safe because that's where the tools are. Competing multisig solutions (Squads on Solana, Realm on Cosmos) exist for non-EVM ecosystems but nothing challenges Safe on EVM chains.

Integration Ecosystem

Safe integrates with virtually every major DeFi protocol and tooling platform. Transaction builders (Zodiac, Roles Modifier), portfolio trackers, accounting tools, and governance frameworks all build Safe-first. The integration ecosystem creates switching costs that make Safe's position nearly unassailable.

Tokenomics

Token Overview

SAFE has a total supply of 1 billion tokens. Distribution allocated 60% to the community treasury (vested over 8 years), 15% to core contributors, 15% to the GnosisDAO treasury, 5% to early ecosystem contributors, and 5% to a joint treasury. Token transferability was initially restricted and later enabled through governance vote.

Value Capture Challenge

SAFE's primary weakness is the lack of a clear value capture mechanism. Safe's infrastructure is largely free to use — there are no protocol fees for creating or using Safe wallets. The token provides governance rights over the treasury and protocol direction but doesn't directly capture revenue from Safe's usage. For a project securing $100B+, the disconnect between utility and token value capture is significant.

Future Revenue Potential

Safe has signaled interest in monetization through premium features, enterprise services, and potentially a fee model for advanced Account Abstraction features via SafeNet. The cross-chain orchestration layer could introduce fee mechanisms. However, these are future plans rather than current revenue streams.

Risk Factors

  • Smart contract systemic risk: A Safe contract vulnerability would cascade across the entire DeFi ecosystem given $100B+ secured.
  • Front-end and infrastructure attacks: The 2023 supply chain attack demonstrated vulnerability in off-chain components.
  • Token value capture: No clear fee model; SAFE governance rights alone may not justify significant valuation.
  • Module security: Third-party modules introduce additional attack surface beyond core contracts.
  • Operational centralization: Key off-chain services are centrally operated despite on-chain decentralization.
  • Free model sustainability: Safe's free usage model limits revenue potential unless premium features gain traction.

Conclusion

Safe is one of the most important infrastructure projects in crypto, full stop. Securing $100B+ in assets with near-universal DAO adoption, a clean core contract security record, and deep integration across the EVM ecosystem makes Safe irreplaceable infrastructure. The move into Account Abstraction via ERC-4337 positions Safe for the next generation of wallet experiences.

The 7.8 score reflects the extraordinary technology and adoption, moderated by the tokenomics challenge. SAFE the token faces a fundamental question: how do you capture value from infrastructure that is intentionally free and open? Safe the product is a 10/10 — the dominant standard in its category. SAFE the token needs a sustainable value capture mechanism to match the product's importance. Until that's solved, the token may underperform relative to the protocol's significance.

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