Before escalating the matter to the Swiss regulator, Greenfield Capital spent months requesting board adjustments at the Safe Ecosystem Foundation.
A supervisory complaint was recently filed with Switzerland’s foundation watchdog by Safe investor Greenfield Capital, as months of dialogue failed to fix governance issues and compelled them to pursue board restructuring at the Safe Ecosystem Foundation.
In an open Sunday letter addressed to the Safe community, Greenfield founding partner Jascha Samadi explained that his firm lodged a complaint with Switzerland’s Federal Supervisory Authority for Foundations (ESA) due to mounting concerns regarding Safe’s direction since early 2025, pointing specifically to its lagging market performance and the absence of independent voices on the foundation board.
“But we have come to believe, after more than a year of research, dialogue and patience, that Safe will not reach its potential under its current governance,”
Samadi said
Amid Safe’s push to break even and double its revenue throughout 2026, the governance clash unfolds. Back in a February update, the project disclosed over $10 million in annualized revenue across its ecosystem exiting 2025, alongside a long-term goal of hitting $100 million in annual recurring revenue by 2030.
Greenfield Raises Questions Over Safe’s Revenue Growth
However, Greenfield highlighted second-quarter revenue of $1.98 million, translating to an annualized run rate of $8 million, which falls significantly short of the anticipated $20 million target for 2026.
Amid broader crypto market expansion, the firm contended that Safe was losing ground, with Samadi noting that the total value held in Safe accounts plunged by over 50 percent from $66 billion down to $30 billion between January 2024 and August 2026, while total value locked across DeFi sectors climbed 40 percent.
During that exact timeframe, total stablecoin supply climbed by roughly 135 percent, whereas stablecoins held inside Safes on Ethereum increased by a mere 11 percent, causing Safe’s share of circulating USDC to drop from 12.8 percent down to 2.5 percent.
“In the category that has grown the most and that self-custody infrastructure is best placed to serve, Safe has been losing ground for two and a half years.”
Several of those issues were blamed by Samadi on an absence of independent board members possessing experienced decision-making capabilities. Conflicts of interest were additionally alleged by him concerning board member Stefan George’s position at Gnosis, alongside fellow board member Richard Meissner’s connections to companies building and running Safe products.
Months were spent by Greenfield requesting governance restructuring from the foundation, which included replacing George and expanding the board through independent, external recruits specialized in finance, risk management, and business strategy. An examination of the foundation’s governance is now being urged by them to determine if corrective steps must be taken by the Swiss watchdog.
