Greenfield Capital, an investor in Safe, said it has filed a complaint with Switzerland’s Federal Supervisory Authority for Foundations (ESA) over the Safe Ecosystem Foundation’s board, according to Cointelegraph. The filing follows months of engagement that Greenfield says failed to resolve its concerns about how the foundation is run.
Greenfield founding partner Jascha Samadi described the decision in an open letter to the Safe community published Sunday. He tied it to a deeper view of Safe’s trajectory, saying the project is unlikely to reach its potential under its current governance.
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Key facts
- Second-quarter revenue was $1.98 million, an annualized run rate of $8 million, against a $20 million expectation for 2026, per Greenfield.
- Total value held in Safe accounts fell from $66 billion to $30 billion between January 2024 and August 2026, a decline of more than 50%, while total DeFi total value locked grew 40%.
- Total stablecoin supply grew roughly 135% over the same window, while stablecoins held in Safes on Ethereum grew 11%, and Safe’s share of USDC in circulation fell from 12.8% to 2.5%.
- Greenfield says the foundation’s board has at times had only two members, and that it resisted adding independent directors or outside expertise.
- Greenfield has held 100% of its SAFE tokens since joining Safe’s 2022 financing round and has never sold any, and says it does not intend to sue individuals or take control of Safe.
Governance fight and revenue questions
The complaint is the escalation of a dispute that Greenfield says has run since early 2025 over board composition and strategy. Greenfield asked the foundation to restructure the board, replace board member Stefan George, and recruit independent members with expertise in finance, risk management and business strategy. According to Cryptobriefing, Greenfield also wanted a full review of Safe’s strategy, product, organization and tokenomics, with measurable KPIs attached.
Cryptobriefing reported that the foundation’s response fell short of that list: it formed a strategy committee with no decision-making power and filled existing board vacancies. Greenfield also points to what it describes as statutory shortfalls, alleging the board has had only two members at times. Cointelegraph did not report the strategy committee or the two-member board allegation.
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Samadi attributed much of the concern to a lack of independent board members with what he called experienced decision-making, and alleged conflicts of interest involving George’s role at Gnosis and fellow board member Richard Meissner’s ties to companies developing and operating Safe products, according to Cointelegraph. George serves as CTO of Gnosis, which Safe spun off from in 2022; Cryptobriefing reported that product overlap raises the question of whose interests a shared board member serves. Cryptobriefing also reported that after 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, with an alleged threat that Gnosis would sell its roughly 10% stake. Those claims remain allegations and have not been tested by any authority.
Why it matters
Safe provides self-custody infrastructure, so a governance fight at the foundation behind it touches projects and users that depend on its accounts. Greenfield’s central argument is that as stablecoins and DeFi grew, Safe’s share of the assets it is best positioned to hold moved the other way over roughly two and a half years.
If the Swiss regulator examines the foundation, it could set a precedent for how foundation-model crypto organizations in Zug are overseen, and whether investors can force board change through a supervisory body rather than internal channels. It also comes as Safe targets break-even and a doubling of revenue in 2026, after reporting more than $10 million in project-wide annualized revenue at the end of 2025 and outlining a long-term ambition of $100 million in annual recurring revenue by 2030.
What to watch
Whether the ESA opens a formal examination of the Safe Ecosystem Foundation, and whether the foundation’s strategy committee is given decision-making power or expanded with independent directors. Safe’s progress toward its 2026 revenue targets, including whether quarterly revenue recovers from the $1.98 million figure Greenfield cites, is the other figure to track.
Reported by cointelegraph.com.
Sources: Cointelegraph, Cryptobriefing