Gnosis Safe
12 known investors
Safe provides smart contract wallets on Ethereum and other networks, using multisignature setups that distribute access control across multiple owners with features like spending limits, approval thresholds, role-based access, transaction simulation, and recovery guardians. It serves individuals, teams, protocols, and organizations managing crypto assets and treasuries across multiple chains.
Also known as Gnosis Safe · Safe · SAFE · Safe Global · Safe{Wallet}
Founders & leadership
Investors · 12
Also in the syndicate · 4
Company profile
researched Aug 2026Safe, formerly Gnosis Safe, is a non-custodial smart contract wallet and smart-account protocol that replaces single-private-key control with onchain, threshold-based approval rules. Transactions execute only once a configured number of designated signers (for example 2-of-3 or 2-of-4) approve, eliminating a single point of failure and allowing a lost or compromised signer to be replaced without losing the account. The consumer-facing product, Safe{Wallet}, adds transaction building and simulation, risk scanning, daily spending limits, approval thresholds and role-based access, multi-chain account tracking with team collaboration, and trustless recovery via a nominated guardian. A security layer marketed as Safe Shield provides transaction guards, transaction insights and a security hub. Mobile applications for iOS and Android support notifications and transaction signing.
The protocol supports ETH, ERC-20 tokens and ERC-721 NFTs, integrates with software and hardware wallets such as MetaMask, WalletConnect, Ledger and Trezor, and connects directly to DeFi protocols for swapping, staking, lending, borrowing and governance. Safe runs on many EVM chains, including Ethereum, Arbitrum, Optimism, Polygon, Base, Gnosis Chain and Avalanche; partner Protofire, an official Safe Guardian, has deployed and maintains Safe across 120+ EVM networks including Blast, Mantle, Linea, Scroll, zkSync and Berachain.
Safe originated inside Gnosis and was spun out following a GNO token holder vote in 2022; the rebrand to Safe was completed in 2023. The ecosystem is stewarded by the non-profit Safe Ecosystem Foundation and governed through SafeDAO using the SAFE governance token.
Founding story
Safe traces to Gnosis, founded in 2015 to build prediction markets on Ethereum. After Gnosis' early-2017 ICO the team needed a secure way to self-custody proceeds; with no mature solution available, Stefan George wrote a multi-signature wallet that was later open-sourced as the Gnosis Multi-signature Wallet and widely adopted by other ICO projects. Recognising the advantages of smart-contract wallets, Gnosis assembled a team and launched Gnosis Safe in 2018 as a general-purpose smart account. Lukas Schor is identified as a Safe co-founder.
Business model
Safe distributes open-source smart contract accounts and a self-custody wallet interface. Its own comparison materials state it charges zero assets-under-management fees, positioning it against subscription-plus-usage MPC custody services and one-time-cost hardware wallets. The ecosystem is funded and stewarded by the non-profit Safe Ecosystem Foundation, which received the proceeds of the 2022 $100M round, and governed by SafeDAO via the SAFE token. The sources do not describe a specific product pricing or revenue mechanism.
Not described in the available sources beyond the statement that Safe charges no AUM fees and that the Safe Ecosystem Foundation, a non-profit, holds strategic assets and funds further development.
Traction
Safe's site reports over $1 trillion in volume processed, 57M+ wallets deployed, $60B+ in total value secured and 200+ integrated apps. The Safe Foundation stated 60M+ accounts secured onchain as of April 2024, and Protofire cites Safe's figure of 10M+ accounts secured across the ecosystem plus $2B+ on the 120+ networks Protofire deployed. At the time of the 2022 raise, Safe had processed more than 600,000 transactions, secured roughly $38-40B in assets per Dune Analytics, had over 30 teams building on it, and secured 13% of all CryptoPunks NFTs.
Latest developments
Recent material describes the Safe Shield security layer (transaction guards, transaction insights, security hub), multichain treasury collaboration features, transaction simulation and risk scanning, mobile apps for iOS and Android, and continued network expansion by Protofire to newer chains such as Botanix, Nibiru EVM, Moonbeam and TAC, with six networks migrated onto the safe.global interface.
▸Full profile — market position, technology, go-to-market, geography, history, risks & controversies
Market position
Sources describe Safe as the de-facto standard for multisig accounts on Ethereum and the leading smart-account infrastructure for onchain treasuries, with most DAO treasuries reported to operate on Safe. At the time of the 2022 round, 1kx characterised Safe as having achieved product-market fit across crypto segments. Its positioning contrasts fully onchain, open-source, user-owned and portable accounts with offchain MPC signing services (vendor lock-in, subscription costs) and single-signer hardware wallets.
Differentiators cited include onchain N-of-M signing rather than offchain MPC, fully open-source and independently verifiable contracts, formal verification, a modular and programmable architecture supporting guards and modules, portability of accounts without vendor lock-in, replaceable user-owned signers, guardian-based trustless recovery, and no AUM fees.
Technology
Safe is built on Solidity smart contracts deployed on Ethereum and other EVM chains. The architecture uses a proxy-singleton design for gas efficiency and a modular design that lets accounts add features (modules, guards, Zodiac Modules, SafeSnap) without user migration. Over six months were invested in formal verification, which Safe describes as making it among the most audited and battle-tested contract sets on Ethereum. Account-abstraction capabilities include transaction batching, gas abstraction (including historic ERC-20 gas payment via meta-transactions), counterfactual deployment, seedless onboarding and modular security policies. Supporting infrastructure per network comprises contract deployments, backend and indexing services, and a TypeScript/React interface with mobile support.
Go-to-market
Self-serve creation of multisig accounts through the Safe{Wallet} web app and mobile apps, complemented by an app ecosystem of 200+ integrated applications and teams building on top of Safe's contracts. Distribution across chains relies on ecosystem partners: Protofire, an official Safe Guardian, deploys and maintains Safe on 120+ EVM networks via safe.protofire.io. Safe also cites a strategic alliance with Chainlink Labs around account abstraction.
DAOs, crypto protocols and foundations, institutions, market makers, VCs, fintech and blockchain organisations, teams and treasury operators, and individual power users. Named users referenced in sources include the Ethereum Foundation, World Foundation/Worldcoin, Morpho, Bitfinex, BitDAO, Shopify, Vitalik Buterin and Punk6529.
Geography
Tech.eu describes parent Gnosis as Gibraltar/Berlin-based. Safe's own footprint is primarily defined by chain coverage rather than geography, spanning Ethereum and 120+ EVM networks.
History
2015: Gnosis founded. Early 2017: Gnosis ICO (which raised $12.5M in April 2017) prompts creation of the Gnosis Multi-signature Wallet, later open-sourced and securing over $1B. 2018: Gnosis Safe launched as a modular, formally verified smart account, alongside a retail mobile wallet that was later discontinued for lack of adoption. 2019: 'Gnosis Safe for teams' web app launched (presented at Devcon Osaka); Bitfinex adopts it for cold storage. 2020: Gnosis transitions into GnosisDAO; Gnosis Safe becomes core DAO treasury infrastructure with innovations such as SafeSnap and an ecosystem of tooling (Zodiac Modules, Karpatkey, Coinshift). April 2022: GNO holders vote to spin Gnosis Safe out of Gnosis. July 2022: $100M round led by 1kx announced alongside the rebrand to Safe, with proceeds to the Safe Ecosystem Foundation. 2023: rebrand completed, gnosis-safe.io retired in favour of safe.global.
Risks & controversies
Sources note that the original gnosis-safe.io domain has been retired following the rebrand, which may cause confusion with the current safe.global product. Safe's own materials acknowledge the general risks its design addresses, including private key compromise and single points of failure. Phemex notes Safe's protocol is 'not unique in nature' and competes with other multisig and MPC solutions. No litigation, security incident or regulatory action involving Safe is described in the provided sources.
Compiled by commissioned research from 8 cited public sources — announcements, filings, and press listed under research sources below.
Key figures
latest reportedCompany-reported or press-reported figures, each dated to when it was claimed — not independently audited.
Timeline · 7
launches, deals, and filingsProtofire, an official Safe Guardian, deploys and maintains Safe smart contracts, backend/indexing services and customized interfaces across 120+ EVM networks including Ethereum, Blast, Mantle, Linea, Scroll, zkSync and Berachain, and contributed zkSync compatibility. Six networks were migrated onto the safe.global interface, with deployments extending to Botanix, Nibiru EVM, Moonbeam and TAC.
The rebrand from Gnosis Safe to Safe was completed in 2023. The gnosis-safe.io domain was retired and the product moved to safe.global (app at app.safe.global), with the Safe Ecosystem Foundation (safefoundation.org) acting as non-profit steward and SafeDAO governing via the SAFE token.
Gnosis Safe announced a $100 million venture funding round led by 1kx with participation from roughly 60-64 investors including Tiger Global, A&T Capital, Blockchain Capital, Digital Currency Group, Kraken Ventures, Coinbase Ventures, ConsenSys and Polygon. Proceeds were directed to the newly established Safe Ecosystem Foundation, a non-profit supporting further development of Safe. The announcement coincided with the rebrand from Gnosis Safe to Safe.
$100M source ↗
Holders of Gnosis' GNO governance token voted to spin Gnosis Safe off from Gnosis into an independent project/DAO, a proposal argued by co-founder Lukas Schor.
A team-oriented web application built on the Safe Smart Account was introduced, later renamed simply 'Gnosis Safe'. It found product-market fit within months; Bitfinex adopted it for cold storage of customer assets, and over $1B in assets moved to Safe Smart Accounts within under a year.
Gnosis built Gnosis Safe in 2018 as a general-purpose smart account with a proxy-singleton architecture for gas efficiency, a modular architecture, and formal verification (over six months of work). A retail-focused mobile wallet with counterfactual deployment, seedless onboarding, batched transactions, 2FA and ERC-20 gas payment was also released but later discontinued due to minimal adoption.
After Gnosis' 2017 ICO, Stefan George wrote a multi-signature wallet to self-custody the proceeds; it was later open-sourced as the Gnosis Multi-signature Wallet and became a de-facto multisig standard, securing over $1B in assets within a few years.
Dated company events from announcements, filings, and press; legal rows summarize public dockets and regulator releases.
In the news
▸Research sources · 8
primary sources listed
- Gnosis Safegnosis-safe.io · web
8 public sources were cited for this profile; the first-party ones are listed here.
Frequently asked questions
- What does Gnosis Safe do?
- Safe (formerly Gnosis Safe) is an open-source multisig smart-account protocol for self-custody and onchain treasury management.
- Who founded Gnosis Safe?
- Gnosis Safe was founded by Martin Köppelmann.
- Who are Gnosis Safe's investors?
- Gnosis Safe's investors include Bixin Capital, Bixin Ventures, Digital Currency Group, 1kx, Coinbase Ventures, Greenfield, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Tiger Global Management.