Greenfield Capital Files Supervisory Complaint Against Safe Foundation Amid Mounting Governance and Growth Concerns

Crypto venture capital firm Greenfield Capital has escalated a prolonged dispute with the Safe Ecosystem Foundation, announcing that it has officially filed a supervisory complaint with Switzerland’s federal foundation watchdog. The legal move comes after more than a year of private engagement, research, and dialogue failed to produce the governance reforms and strategic turnarounds demanded by the investor.

The complaint, lodged with Switzerland’s Federal Supervisory Authority for Foundations (ESA), seeks external intervention to restructure the Safe Ecosystem Foundation’s board. Greenfield Capital, an early and prominent investor in the Safe ecosystem, argues that the current leadership structure is inadequate to steer the project toward its long-term potential, citing severe underperformance relative to the broader digital asset market and what it describes as a critical absence of independent oversight.

The developments were made public through an open letter published by Greenfield founding partner Jascha Samadi on the Safe community forum. According to Samadi, his firm’s anxiety regarding the health and trajectory of Safe has mounted steadily since early 2025. Despite months of constructive efforts to resolve these internal tensions privately, Greenfield has concluded that the project cannot thrive under its current governance model.

In response to the escalating dispute, Samuel Akpan, a spokesperson for the Safe Ecosystem Foundation, stated that the foundation has not yet received any formal inquiry from the Swiss regulatory watchdog. Consequently, the foundation has declined to comment on the specific allegations or details contained within Greenfield’s potential complaint.

The governance clash emerges at a critical financial juncture for Safe, which has publicly outlined ambitious plans to achieve operational break-even and double its revenue throughout 2026. In an official announcement released in February, the project reported generating more than $10 million in project-wide annualized revenue by the conclusion of 2025. Looking further ahead, the initiative has laid out a long-term strategic ambition to scale its operations toward $100 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR) by 2030.

Greenfield Questions Safe’s Revenue Growth and Market Share

Despite the optimistic financial projections shared by project leadership, Greenfield Capital has raised serious doubts regarding Safe’s actual commercial momentum. The venture firm pointed to second-quarter revenue figures showing $1.98 million, which translates to an annualized run rate of roughly $8 million. Greenfield argues that this performance falls drastically short of the $20 million revenue expectation that leadership has set for the upcoming year.

Beyond individual quarterly metrics, Greenfield’s core critique centers on Safe’s declining market share during a period of considerable expansion across the broader cryptocurrency sector. Samadi highlighted a striking contraction in total value held within Safe accounts, noting that metrics plummeted by more than 50 percent—dropping from $66 billion down to $30 billion—between January 2024 and August 2026. During that exact timeframe, the broader decentralized finance (DeFi) market experienced a 40 percent increase in total value locked.

The firm’s analysis of stablecoin holdings paints a similarly concerning picture for the self-custody infrastructure project. While the total supply of stablecoins across the entire crypto ecosystem expanded by roughly 135 percent over the same multi-year window, stablecoins held within Safe accounts on the Ethereum network grew by a meager 11 percent. Furthermore, Safe’s specific share of USD Coin (USDC) in active circulation eroded significantly, falling from 12.8 percent down to just 2.5 percent.

Emphasizing the gravity of these figures, Samadi noted that in the very market category that has experienced the most aggressive growth—and one that self-custody infrastructure is ideally positioned to serve—Safe has steadily lost ground over the past two and a half years.

At the heart of Greenfield’s grievances is the composition of the Safe Ecosystem Foundation board. The investor contends that the foundation suffers from a distinct lack of independent board members possessing the objective perspective and experienced decision-making capabilities required to guide a major blockchain infrastructure project.

Furthermore, Greenfield’s open letter raised specific concerns regarding potential conflicts of interest within the leadership ranks. The firm pointed to board member Stefan George and his ongoing professional roles associated with Gnosis, as well as fellow board member Richard Meissner, whose professional ties extend to entities actively developing and operating core Safe products.

For months, Greenfield Capital has urged the foundation to undertake a comprehensive governance overhaul. The investor’s proposed remedies included replacing Stefan George on the board and expanding the governing body to include independent, externally recruited professionals with specialized expertise in traditional finance, risk management, and long-term business strategy.

With those private appeals failing to yield the desired structural changes, Greenfield is now formally asking the Swiss supervisory authority to examine the foundation’s internal operations and determine whether mandatory corrective measures are necessary to protect the interests of the broader community and stakeholders.