Greenfield Capital, an early investor in Safe, has filed a formal complaint with Switzerland’s Federal Supervisory Authority for Foundations (ESA). The complaint targets governance at the Safe Ecosystem Foundation, the Zug-based non-profit that oversees SafeDAO and its treasury.
What Greenfield is asking for
According to Greenfield, the complaint came only after months of trying to work things out with the foundation directly. Its requests were fairly specific: restructure the board and add independent directors.
Greenfield also wanted a full review of Safe’s strategy, product, organization and tokenomics. That review, in its view, should come with measurable KPIs, so progress could actually be tracked rather than simply promised.
The foundation’s answer fell short of that list. It set up a strategy committee with no decision-making power and filled existing board vacancies.
The investor’s complaint also points to what it describes as statutory shortfalls. At times, according to the allegations, the foundation’s board has had only two members.
Greenfield says the foundation has resisted appointing independent directors or bringing in outside expertise, despite calls from stakeholders to do both.
The conflict of interest allegations
At the center of the dispute is board member Stefan George, who is also the CTO of Gnosis. Safe spun off from Gnosis in 2022, but the two remain linked in ways Greenfield considers problematic.
One issue is product overlap. Gnosis offers wallet products that compete with Safe, which raises an obvious question about whose interests a shared board member is serving.
The second issue is more pointed. Following the Bybit hack in February 2025, claims surfaced that George and Gnosis co-founder Martin Köppelmann pressured Safe’s co-founders to reallocate a significant amount of SAFE tokens.
The alleged leverage was a threat: Gnosis would sell its stake of approximately 10% in the company. These remain allegations, and the claims have not been tested by any authority.
The numbers behind the frustration
Assets held in Safe fell from approximately $6.6 billion in early 2024 to around $3 billion now. Over the same broad period, DeFi total value locked rose by around 40%. Stablecoin supply expanded by roughly 135%.
Background: how Safe got here
The Safe Ecosystem Foundation was created in 2022, the same year Safe separated from Gnosis. Its job is to oversee governance and the treasury of SafeDAO and related initiatives.
Greenfield came in during Safe’s 2022 financing round. The firm says it has kept 100% of its SAFE tokens since then and has never sold any.
Greenfield has also been explicit about what it is not doing. It says it does not intend to sue any individuals or take control of Safe, and wants to stay a constructive participant in the ecosystem.
Disclosure: This article was edited by John Chen. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
