Safe guide
Setting up a Safe multisig for your company
A Safe is a smart contract wallet that moves funds only when enough of its owners sign. The owners and the threshold you pick on day one matter more than any other setting. Here is how to choose them, back them up and change them later.
Updated October 17, 2026
Owners are people, not devices
Each owner is a wallet address. Pick them so every owner is a different person with their own wallet, ideally a hardware wallet. One person holding two owner keys quietly lowers the real threshold, which is why WorkTGT counts a person once however many owner wallets they hold.
Do not use an exchange account address as an owner: it cannot sign Safe transactions. Spread the owners across roles, for example a founder, the finance lead and an operations lead, so one absence does not stall payday.
Choosing a threshold
The threshold is how many owner signatures it takes to move funds. A higher threshold is harder to steal from, but leaves fewer keys you can afford to lose. A threshold of 1 offers no protection against a single compromised key. A threshold equal to the number of owners means one lost key locks the Safe for good.
What each threshold means
M of N means M signatures out of N owners. Two numbers matter: how many keys you can lose and still move funds, and how many keys someone would need to move funds alone.
| Safe | Keys you can lose | Keys needed to move funds | When it fits |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 of 2 | Keys you can lose1 | Keys needed to move funds1 | When it fitsA backup key, not a control: either owner can move funds alone. |
| 2 of 2 | Keys you can lose0 | Keys needed to move funds2 | When it fitsTwo-person control, but one lost key locks the Safe. |
| 2 of 3 | Keys you can lose1 | Keys needed to move funds2 | When it fitsThe usual start for a small team. |
| 3 of 4 | Keys you can lose1 | Keys needed to move funds3 | When it fitsA larger finance team with one spare signer. |
| 3 of 5 | Keys you can lose2 | Keys needed to move funds3 | When it fitsBoards and treasuries that span several departments. |
Back up every signer
A Safe has no password reset. If so many keys are lost that the rest cannot reach the threshold, nobody can move the funds: not your team, not Safe, not WorkTGT.
- Each owner keeps their own recovery phrase offline, written down, never photographed or stored in cloud notes.
- Keep the phrases in different places, so one fire or burglary cannot take more than one.
- Keep an owner register: name, role, address, wallet type and where its backup lives, but never the phrase itself.
- Once a quarter, check that every owner can still sign, for example on a small test transaction.
Rotating signers when people leave or join
Changing owners is itself a Safe transaction, so it needs the current threshold of signatures. Add the new owner before removing the old one, so the Safe never drops below its threshold during the change, then look at the threshold again.
Remove a departing person's owner address on their last day, along with their roles in your tools. If a key may be compromised, replace it at once and treat it as an incident.
In WorkTGT you can add or remove owners and change the threshold from the project screen for a vault with a threshold of 1. For a vault with a threshold of 2 or more, make the change in the official Safe app, then press Re-sync in WorkTGT.
What WorkTGT adds on top of the Safe
The Safe enforces signatures. It does not know who asked for a payment, whether anyone approved it or which invoice it pays. WorkTGT adds that layer, and it is never one of your owners, so it cannot sign or move funds.
- Requests with invoices attached, approved by the people you assign, with two-factor authentication on every approval.
- An address book where a second admin approves each new payee address.
- Roles for requesters, approvers, signers, reviewers and auditors.
- An append-only audit log with the on-chain hash on each payout, exportable to CSV.
- Safe deployment from the app, with the network fee covered, and network gas for payouts paid by WorkTGT's relayer.
Setting up the Safe in WorkTGT
Six steps, best done in one sitting with every owner present.
- 1
List the owners
Write down who will be an owner, their role and the wallet each one will sign with. Every owner should be a different person.
- 2
Pick the threshold
Use the table above. For most small teams that is 2 of 3.
- 3
Back up every owner wallet
Each owner confirms their recovery phrase is written down and stored offline before any funds arrive.
- 4
Deploy or connect the Safe
Sign in to WorkTGT, open your project and enter the owner addresses and the threshold. WorkTGT deploys the Safe on BNB Smart Chain and covers the network fee, or you connect a Safe you already have.
- 5
Send a small test deposit
Send a small amount of BEP20 USDT to the Safe on BNB Smart Chain and check that it arrives before moving the main balance.
- 6
Run a test payout
Raise a small request, approve it and have the required owners sign, so everyone has done it once before payday.
Deploy or connect a Safe in WorkTGT
Safe setup checklist
- Every owner is a different person with their own wallet.
- The threshold is at least 2 and lower than the number of owners.
- Each recovery phrase is stored offline, in a separate place.
- An owner register is written down and kept with finance.
- Deposits go only to the Safe on BNB Smart Chain.
- A test payout has been signed by the required owners.
- You know who replaces a signer who leaves.
This guide is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Rules differ by country and change often, so check with a qualified local adviser.
Frequently asked questions
How many owners should a company Safe have?
Three is the most common start: enough that one lost key is survivable, few enough to coordinate. Add owners as the team and the balance grow, and keep the threshold below the owner count.
What is a good multisig threshold?
For three owners, 2 of 3. As a rule of thumb, use a majority of owners: never 1 for a shared treasury, and never all of them, because then one lost key locks the funds.
What happens if a signer loses their key?
If the remaining owners still meet the threshold, they sign a transaction that replaces the lost owner with a new address. If too few keys are left to meet the threshold, nobody can move the funds.
Can WorkTGT move our funds or recover our Safe?
No. WorkTGT is not an owner of your Safe and never holds keys. It prepares transactions for your owners to sign and keeps the record, which also means it cannot recover a Safe whose owners have lost their keys.
Can we use a Safe we already have?
Yes. If you already have a Safe on BNB Smart Chain, connect it by its address and WorkTGT reads its owners and threshold.
Which network is the Safe on?
BNB Smart Chain. A Safe exists only on the network it was deployed to, so always deposit on BNB Smart Chain. Funds sent to the Safe's address on another network may not be recoverable.
Run your next payout through a Safe
Free to use. Each executed payout costs 0.1%, at least 0.5 and at most 5 USDT, and network gas is covered. WorkTGT never holds your funds or keys.
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