KoinlyticsA Safe is a smart contract wallet that requires m of n signatures from designated owners to execute any transaction. It is the default custody solution for DAOs, treasuries, and serious individuals across every EVM chain.
How it works
- Deploy a Safe with n owners and a threshold m.
- To send a transaction, one owner proposes it via the Safe UI or SDK.
- Other owners connect and sign. Signatures are collected off-chain until the threshold is met.
- Any signer can then submit the fully-signed transaction on-chain.
- The Safe contract verifies the signatures and executes.
Why not just a single wallet
Any single key can be stolen, lost, or coerced. A 3-of-5 Safe requires three of five keys, from three different devices, ideally in different jurisdictions, to move funds. This is the closest crypto gets to institutional custody without giving up self-custody.
Modules and guards
- Modules. Contracts that can execute transactions on the Safe's behalf under specific conditions (recurring payments, DeFi strategy automation, batched signing).
- Guards. Contracts that must approve every transaction before execution. Whitelists, spending limits, time constraints.
Timelocks
Add a delay between a transaction being fully signed and being executable. Standard for DAO treasuries: 48 hours. Gives community time to notice if a compromised signer set is trying to drain.
Signer topology suggestions
- Personal 3-of-5. Three of your devices (phone hardware, laptop hardware, air-gapped) + two trusted family members or backup keys.
- DAO 5-of-9. Core team, contributors, community-elected multisig councilmembers.
- Team treasury 2-of-3 with recovery. Two founders + escrow key for recovery.
Recovery playbook
If a signer is compromised or lost, initiate a Safe transaction to swap out the owner or lower the threshold. Requires meeting the current threshold. This is why multisig with dead keys is dangerous: if too many owners lose access, the Safe becomes unrecoverable.