Safe stands as one of the most enduring and influential projects in the Ethereum ecosystem. What began as an internal solution for secure fund management has evolved into a foundational infrastructure powering millions of smart accounts across decentralized applications, DAOs, AI agents, and beyond. This article traces the pivotal milestones in Safe’s journey—from its origins at Gnosis to its emergence as a standalone ecosystem—and explores how it continues to shape the future of digital ownership.
The Origins: Gnosis Multi-Signature Wallet
In 2016, Gnosis launched with a vision centered on prediction markets built atop Ethereum. While that initial use case didn’t gain widespread traction, the team quickly pivoted toward developing essential blockchain infrastructure. A turning point came in early 2017 during Gnosis’ ICO, when the need arose for a secure method to self-custody raised funds.
At the time, no mature multisig wallet solutions existed. In response, developer Stefan George created a custom smart contract-based multi-signature wallet. This solution was later open-sourced as the Gnosis Multi-signature Wallet—a move that would lay the groundwork for what was to come.
As initial coin offerings surged across the crypto landscape, teams urgently needed secure ways to manage treasury assets. The Gnosis multisig quickly became the de facto standard, safeguarding over $1 billion in digital assets within just a few years.
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Gnosis Safe: The Next Evolution
Recognizing the potential of smart contract wallets—also known as smart accounts—Gnosis assembled a dedicated team to build a more advanced solution. In 2018, Gnosis Safe was introduced as a general-purpose smart account with key improvements over its predecessor:
- Gas efficiency through a proxy-singleton architecture that drastically reduced deployment costs
- Modular design, enabling users to upgrade functionality without migrating accounts
- Formal verification, making it the first (and still among the only) smart account rigorously proven secure through mathematical validation
These innovations positioned Gnosis Safe not just as a security tool, but as a flexible foundation for future web3 development.
A Mobile Vision Ahead of Its Time
In 2018, Gnosis launched a mobile wallet designed for mainstream adoption—blending high security with intuitive user experience. Features included:
- Counterfactual deployment: Wallets deployed only upon first use, simplifying onboarding
- Seedless setup: Users could begin without a seed phrase, adding backup keys later
- Batched transactions: Multiple actions executed in one click
- 2FA via browser extensions or hardware cards like Status Keycard
- ERC-20 gas payments: Meta-transactions allowed fees to be paid in any token, not just ETH
While technically groundbreaking, the market wasn’t ready. DeFi was nascent, retail participation minimal, and ecosystem support limited. Despite its innovation, the mobile wallet saw low adoption and was eventually discontinued.
"Sometimes the best ideas arrive before their time. Gnosis Safe mobile was one of them."
Return to Core Strengths: Gnosis Safe for Teams
After stepping back from consumer-focused efforts, the team refocused on institutional and organizational needs. In 2019, they launched Gnosis Safe for Teams—later renamed simply Gnosis Safe—a web-based interface built on the new Smart Account architecture.
Targeted at teams managing shared funds, this version offered improved UX, lower gas costs, and robust security. It found immediate product-market fit:
- Within months, over $1 billion in assets were secured using Safe accounts
- Major entities like Bitfinex adopted it for cold storage
- The Lindy effect took hold: longer survival increased trust in the codebase
Safe also became instrumental in the rise of DAOs starting in 2020. Tools like SafeSnap enabled decentralized governance by allowing communities to take control of treasuries—fueling progressive decentralization.
Today, most DAO treasuries are managed via Safe, supported by specialized firms like Karpatkey and tooling ecosystems such as Zodiac Modules and Coinshift, creating powerful network effects.
Scaling as Critical Infrastructure
By 2021, Gnosis transitioned into GnosisDAO, decentralizing governance across its suite of projects including CoW Swap and Gnosis Chain. Meanwhile, Gnosis Safe experienced explosive growth.
Originally used by protocols and DAOs, adoption expanded organically to include:
- Venture capital firms
- Market makers
- High-net-worth individuals
- NFT collectives
Even Vitalik Buterin moved a significant portion of his ETH holdings into a Gnosis Safe that year—an endorsement that underscored its reliability.
Key developments included:
- Multichain expansion, supporting Ethereum L2s and other L1s
- Launch of Safe Apps, integrating DeFi protocols directly into the wallet interface
This cemented Gnosis Safe as essential infrastructure—so much so that new blockchains often launch with Safe compatibility out of necessity.
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Independence and Rebrand: The Birth of SafeDAO
In 2022, it became clear that Safe had outgrown its role as a Gnosis product. To serve diverse user groups effectively, independence was necessary. The community voted to spin off the project.
The result? Safe—no longer “Gnosis Safe”—emerged as its own ecosystem.
In 2023:
- The Safe Ecosystem Foundation was incorporated
- SafeDAO was formed following a successful strategic fundraising round
- Safe{Core}, a developer suite, launched to empower builders creating wallets and apps on top of Safe Smart Accounts
According to the SafeDAO Constitution:
“SafeDAO’s mission is to establish [smart accounts] as the default means for interacting with web3. Through open source components and ecosystem initiatives we are nurturing the Safe Ecosystem, consisting of wallets, infrastructure, tooling and services.”
By year-end, over 1 million Safe Smart Accounts had been created, spanning use cases in AI, gaming, social platforms, and identity.
Notable examples include:
- Autonolas: AI agents conducting ~50% of transactions on Gnosis Chain via Safe
- Worldcoin: Millions of identity-linked accounts powered by Safe Smart Accounts
- Drakula.app: A web3 social platform onboarding over 20,000 users in 48 hours
Present and Future: Toward Universal Smart Accounts
As of 2025, Safe secures over $100 billion in digital assets, second only to the Ethereum staking contract. Over 7 million Safe Smart Accounts exist across chains, with more than 200 projects integrated into the ecosystem.
Core keywords driving Safe’s impact include:
- Smart Accounts
- Multisig Wallet
- DAO Treasury Management
- Account Abstraction
- Web3 Security
- Ethereum Infrastructure
- Decentralized Governance
- Self-Custody Solutions
Despite this success, challenges remain: cross-chain interoperability, modular upgrades, wallet standardization, and long-term economic sustainability.
But the vision remains bold: Make every Ethereum account a smart account.
Through open-source development and ecosystem grants, Safe continues accelerating this transition—empowering developers and users alike to leverage advanced account features once reserved for experts.
FAQ
Q: What is a Safe Smart Account?
A: A Safe Smart Account is a smart contract wallet offering enhanced security (e.g., multi-signature), modularity, and programmability compared to traditional EOAs (Externally Owned Accounts).
Q: Who uses Safe today?
A: Users range from individual holders and NFT collectors to DAOs, venture funds, exchanges like Bitfinex, and even Vitalik Buterin. It's widely used for treasury management and institutional custody.
Q: Is Safe only for teams or organizations?
A: Originally focused on teams, Safe now supports individuals too—especially with rising interest in account abstraction and self-custody among retail users.
Q: How does Safe support multiple blockchains?
A: Safe is deployed across dozens of networks—including Ethereum mainnet, Arbitrum, Optimism, Polygon, and Gnosis Chain—enabling consistent asset management across ecosystems.
Q: Can I integrate my app with Safe?
A: Yes. Developers can use Safe{Core} SDKs and APIs to build wallets, services, or dApps that interact with or extend Safe functionality.
Q: What makes Safe different from other wallets?
A: Unlike most wallets based on simple key pairs, Safe uses smart contracts for advanced features like transaction batching, social recovery (via modules), gasless transactions, and formal verification for security assurance.
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