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At The Founder, we continue to bring insights from the pioneers shaping the future of digital finance. Today, we have the pleasure of interviewing Richard Meissner, Co-Founder of Safe, a leader in smart contract wallet infrastructure. Safe is at the forefront of account abstraction and chain abstraction, making digital ownership seamless, secure, and scalable. Recently, Safe announced a strategic partnership with El Dorado, a Latin American stablecoin-powered SuperApp, to integrate its smart account infrastructure into El Dorado’s new self-custodial wallet. In this exclusive interview, Richard shares insights into Safe’s mission, its latest innovations, and the future of digital asset security.
Q. Richard, can you tell us a bit about your journey and what led you to co-found Safe?
Absolutely! My background is in IT systems engineering, and I’ve worked at companies like mobile.de, Dubsmash, and Gnosis, where I became involved in blockchain and decentralized finance. The more I learned, the more I saw the potential for Web3 to revolutionize digital ownership. This led me to join Gnosis, where I was part of the team that developed Safe Wallet, then called Gnosis Safe, which was designed to simplify digital asset management for individuals and enterprises. Gnosis Safe gained momentum quickly, and in 2022, we forged our own path in the decentralized finance space, launching Safe. Now over $80 billion in digital assets is stored on Safe smart accounts.
Q. What excites you the most about working in the Web3 and blockchain space?
The prospect of bringing the world’s GDP onchain. We are on the precipice of making digital ownership possible for every type of user. Smart accounts were a major step forward, unlocking features like account recovery. Chain abstraction edged us closer, breaking down barriers between protocols. Now, the integration of AI agents feels like the final frontier. With the help of agents, we could eradicate all the user experience issues associated with self-custody. Pretty soon, users won’t have to choose at all between convenience and financial autonomy. Everyone will have access to financial platforms that reflect their personal values and not be beholden to custodians.
Q. Safe has become a key player in smart contract wallet infrastructure. What was the initial vision behind Safe, and how has it evolved?
Back when Safe was Gnosis Safe, we set out to enable better coordination in the DeFi space. It began in 2017 with the creation of the Gnosis Multi-signature Wallet to securely manage ICO funds, which quickly gained adoption and secured over $1 billion in assets. In 2018, Safe evolved into a next-gen smart account with features like gas-efficient architecture, seedless onboarding, and ERC-20 gas payments - architecture that was far ahead of the time.
Safe became critical for securing decentralized treasuries, as well as expanding its user base to VCs, market makers, and high net-worth individuals, such as Vitalik Buterin. In 2022, Safe spun off from Gnosis and rebranded with a mission to make smart accounts the default for web3. SafeDAO was formed to grow the ecosystem, launching Safe{Core}, a developer suite to accelerate adoption. Now, over 7 million smart accounts have been created. Safe aims to make every Ethereum account a smart account, driving ongoing innovation in the space.
Q. The recent partnership with El Dorado is a major milestone. How does this collaboration enhance digital asset security and accessibility in Latin America?
We are seeing increasing demand for digital assets and tools to manage them in a self-sufficient manner in the region. Latin America is one of the fastest-growing regions for crypto adoption in the world, growing annually at roughly 43%. Stablecoins, which provide a hedge against inflation and seamless integration between the fiat and crypto worlds, are set to transform the region.
El Dorado’s platform has already facilitated over 3 million peer-to-peer USDT transactions for more than 300,000 Latin Americans across Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Panama, Peru, and Venezuela. With 7.6% of USDC stored on Safe accounts, the integration of Safe’s audited smart contract infrastructure supports secure and reliable stablecoin transactions for El Dorado’s self-custodial users.
Q. With account abstraction gaining momentum, how do you see it transforming the way users interact with digital assets?
Smart accounts drive digital asset adoption in direct and indirect ways. Unlocking features like social login and account recovery will attract users who might otherwise be concerned about the complexity of digital asset management. But also in the bigger picture of things, smart account infrastructure solves many of the UX challenges developers face so that they can focus less on building a sufficient application interface and more on innovating. This means more exciting use cases and integrations can occur in Web3. We are already seeing this with the apps building on Safe. Take Fileverse, for example, a decentralized version of Google Docs. When UX is accounted for, developers can be more creative with how Web3 ideals are implemented in the digital economy.
Q. Safe’s goal is to bring the world’s GDP on-chain. What are some of the biggest challenges and opportunities in achieving this vision?
Setting our sights on bringing world GDP onchain is about seriously challenging the TradFi paradigm. Safe has always championed unlocking digital ownership, and now we are doubling down on that effort. The biggest challenge is building secure and scalable infrastructure that can support a wider user base. Safe’s battle-tested infrastructure already secures over $80 billion in digital assets. The progression of our chain abstraction solution, Safenet, will further expand the capacity of smart accounts. By making digital assets easier and safer to manage, we can create a financial system that’s more open, transparent, and accessible to everyone.
Q. The security of self-custodial wallets is a growing concern. What sets Safe’s smart contract infrastructure apart in ensuring user protection?
Complicated interfaces can make users a threat to themselves. Private key compromises alone accounted for the theft of over $855 million in 2024.
What sets Safe apart is our smart contract-based infrastructure, which is designed to be both flexible and secure. We offer features like multi-signature support, recovery options, and customizable access controls, which give users full control while minimizing the risk of loss. Our system is open-source and audited, ensuring transparency and trust. While self-custody concerns still persist industry-wide, these concerns have all been addressed and eradicated on Safe.
Q. Can you share any insights on what’s next for Safe in 2025 and beyond?
2025 will be the year Safe makes the vision of chain abstraction a reality. Safe announced the vision for Safenet, a transaction processor network designed to enable cross-chain asset management, at the end of last year. There will be several testnet versions of Safenet that will be made available for use throughout the first half of this year, with the first iteration of Version 1 available sometime in H2.
On other fronts, Safe is exploring the potential AI agents have to improve DeFi processes. We recently announced an AI agent hackathon, focusing on creating synergy between decentralized financial systems and AI-powered analytics and automation. Keep an eye out on our X page and blog for updates on these developments!
Q. What advice would you give to startups looking to innovate in the blockchain and Web3 space?
There are so many great resources and collaborations in the Web3 community. Safe’s self-custody infrastructure is available for developers through Safe{Core}, our modular and open-source stack. Since 2023, developers have been empowered to integrate smart account features into Web3 platforms. Our strategic partnership with El Dorado is an example of what’s possible when integrating with Safe – unlocking new markets and accelerating self-custody adoption. I would encourage developers to leverage frameworks like Safe which offer a solid foundation for building more dynamic and innovative Web3 apps.
Thank you, Richard, for sharing your insights with The Founder. It’s clear that Safe is playing a pivotal role in advancing digital ownership and security in the Web3 ecosystem. As the adoption of smart accounts and stablecoin-powered solutions grows, we look forward to seeing how Safe continues to innovate in this space.
