In this article, I will explain in simple terms what a multisig wallet is and how to use it. I will also show you step-by-step…
how to set up a multisig wallet with Gnosis Safe
how to transfer tokens out from that Safe
how to connect your safe with dApps like OpenSea
Alright, let’s get started!
On Ethereum there are two types of addresses:
Accounts
Contracts
The first one, ACCOUNTS, also called EOA, is what you are using everyday, an public ETH address in your wallet, created from your seed phrase. You can have multiple such accounts in your wallet. Each account has a public address and a private key. Whoever holds the private key can perform transactions in that account. Don’t loose it!
The second type, CONTRACTS, are what you usually know from the projects you deal with. You mint NFTs from a contract, you sell them via a (SeaPort) contract or you are using the WETH smart contract when swapping ETH. A smart contract is not controlled by a private key - which is good, so it can’t get stolen. Contracts are controlled by one or more accounts (EOA).
Hardware wallets like Ledger or Trezor are considered a must have when degening around in web3. It’s the most secure way of holding your funds. The quasi standard. It’s so good because the seed phrase and the derived private keys for each account are stored on the hardware device and never ever leave it anywhere, especially not to this evil thing, called internet.
To approve a transaction, you have to physically connect your hardware device and press a button on it. It’s like a hardware two-factor-authentication. Very safe. BUT … is it really the safest way to store your assets like NFTs or crypto funds?…
You guessed it: No! It’s not the safest way. The safest way of storing your funds is on a smart contract like the Gnosis SAFE. Here comes the magic: Such a safe (which is a smart contract) can be owned by not only one but by multiple wallet-accounts.
This is why it’s called a “multisig wallet”. It’s a short form of multi-signature. The term wallet is a bit misleading as a crypto wallet is a piece of software that holds ACCOUNTS but not CONTRACTS. Most accurate is, to just call it a “multisig Safe”.
Let’s say there are four accounts that own this smart contract (Safe). This could be four public Ethereum addresses that you own yourself. Or it could be two accounts that you own and two accounts that your partner owns. Or you and three friends have one account each that together own the safe.
In the settings you can decide how many of the owners need to sign a transaction before it gets approved and valid. Let’s say you would like to make it two. Every time you want to perform a transaction with your safe, you need two signatures from one of the four accounts that own the safe. It doesn’t matter which two but only if two wallets-accounts confirm the transaction it gets executed.
It works like the two-men missile launch control, that requires two humans with one key each, to launch a nuclear missile - in order to prevent one alone fucking up.
Go to app.safe.global. If you feel uncomfortable clicking my link (very good!) then navigate yourself via the official Twitter with the easy to remember handle: @safe
https://app.safe.global/welcome
You should now see a page like this. Click ‘Create new Safe’:
Ideally you use a hardware wallet account for maximum safety. You might want to consider using the main account you have your ENS associated with. You can also just start with a MetaMask account to get familiar with the process.
Hit “Connect”
In the next menu, you get plenty of options to connect your wallet. If you use a ledger for example, you can directly connect via the Ledger Live app.
Using your Ledger, the app will scan your wallet and list all available accounts that you have created. In my example it’s 16. Select the one you want to use and hit “Connect”
If you have chosen an account that has an ENS linked to it, Gnosis Safe will recognize it as you can see the right preview and the top right corner. It captured my zelotes.eth. Make sure to pick the right network. In my case it’s Ethereum.
Now the cool stuff is starting. You need to decide now, how many owners your Safe shall have and how many of those owners are required to confirm a signature. Definitely make sure to set more than one signer.
On the other hand don’t set all owners as signers because if just one of them loses access to his wallet-account, you can not control your safe anymore.
Pay close attention to the little warnings shown to you during the setup process.
In this example I have decided to go with four accounts of mine: Three ledger accounts that all have an ENS associated as well as one MetaMask account. I might also set up the ‘Safe Mobile owner key’ as an additional security measure later on. Hit “Next”
You will be now shown a summary and the estimated fees to create this smart contract for you. Make sure that you have enough funds to pay this fee and hit “Next”
You are now prompted to sign a transaction in order to get the Safe contract created. It’s quite a few clicks with a Ledger but you only have to do this with your main account in this step.
Now, just wait until the transaction is processed. Once done, just hit “Start using Safe”
NOW you have the safest way of storing your NFTs and crypto funds. Make sure to save your Safe contract address somewhere, you can access it quickly. I do it in my password manager. You can use it in a similar way now as your regular public address from an wallet-account: Receive and transfer stuff.
As a first step, you can transfer something into your new safe and try to transfer it out again.
Hitting “Start using Safe” will direct you to the Safe dashboard with a tipps & tricks modal upon entry. Read this carefully, confirm “Got it” and make yourself familiar with all the provided information.
Please pay special attention to the “Settings” in the menu and play around with them. You can enable some more cool safety measures.
Let’s try our new Safe out. I have transferred some ETH and one NFT to my new Zelotes Safe and will now transfer the NFT back via the Dashboard.
Hovering over the NFT a “Transfer” button appears. Clicking this opens up a modal to enter the recipient’s address. Make sure to use your address book, to not fall for an “address poisoning scam” which is currently happening quite often. Maintaining an address book also applies for your regular Soft- and Hardware- Wallets.
After entering the recipients address hit “Next”
In the last step, review your transaction carefully, before you hit “Submit” to then sign the transaction with your main wallet-account. At this point, no gas is required.
Since I have configured that two of the four contract owners need to sign a transaction, I have to switch my wallet now to perform the second signature. I can access my transaction from the main menu on the left. You can clearly see that one signature is missing yet.
Now it’s time to switch accounts and connect with one of the other three owners, in order to provide the second signature. The last owner who signs the transaction has to pay the gas at the present costs.
After a few seconds, the transaction is confirmed and my NFT is back in my account I transferred it from earlier. Piece of Cake!
As a last step, let’s try to connect our Safe to OpenSea. Go to “Apps” in the main menu, search for “WalletConnet” and select it from the list.
The following page opens up and provides you with the instructions on how to connect.
Now go to OpenSea, click connect wallet per usual and select WalletConnect. Click “copy to clipboard” below the QR code.
Now paste the link into the WalletConnect input field on Safe
Switch back to OpenSea and hit the “Accept and Sign” button
Then switch back to Safe to sign the message as a first owner
Find the Transaction in the main menu
Perform the second signature. Please be aware that even signing a message with your Safe triggers a call to the blockchain and costs gas!
You are in OpenSea now and can adjust your profile if desired. But as mentioned above it comes at a cost as gas is required for every signature of a message.
Gnosis also offers a slick mobile App which has a pretty amazing rating. Loading the Safe as very easy as you only have to scan the QR code, set a pin and you are ready to go in read-only mode.
If you would like to confirm transactions from your mobile, you can create a mobile key in various ways. Definitely check it out. Below are impressions from the App store
Respect! If you made it till the end. Now you know what is the safest way to store your crypto coins and digital collectibles: In a Safe with multisignature enabled. This is by far more secure than a hardware wallet and it allows you to share a Safe with friends or members of a DAO.
Nevertheless, a hardware wallet is still a must-have for your wallet strategy. Make sure top store the seed phrase in a secure way. You can learn how in this article:
https://mirror.xyz/zelotes.eth/vdF7g7hyOEdFGnVxVUx96_fDnxPzI-y0Auk77rTPpWI
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