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DAOs are community cooperation at work - people coming together to create, invest, build, and vibe. In order for DAOs to carry out their operations, they need stuff. And that stuff is often in the form of digital assets like cryptocurrencies and NFTs. When a DAO wants to take their digital asset management to the next level, they turn to a multisig wallet like Gnosis Safe.

In this guide, we’re going to set up a Gnosis Safe ourselves!

What Do I Need?

Before we get going, let’s make sure we have everything we need. Setting up a Gnosis Safe will require:

• 2 or more Ethereum Wallets
• ETH in the wallet you’ll be using to create the Safe

If you need help getting your gear in order, head over to our YouTube Channel. There, you’ll find guides for setting up your wallet and purchasing some ETH!

Multisigs & Gnosis Safe

A multisig, or multi-signature, wallet is a smart contract wallet controlled by multiple owners and requires a minimum number of signatures to confirm transactions. This lends an added layer of security, making it much more difficult for a wallet’s assets to be tampered with, stolen, or transferred elsewhere. Requiring multiple signatures also builds in a layer of group approval to every on-chain decision a DAO makes.

On top of the added security, a multisig wallet can add some much needed key redundancy. For instance, your multisig can have 5 owners but only require 3 of them to sign transactions. This way, if 2 of your owners leave the DAO or lose their keys, you can still access and utilize the wallet.

When setting up your multisig, this ratio of owners to signers is a vital factor. Requiring all of the owners to sign every transaction might sound like the most democratic setup, but you would be just 1 lost key away from completely losing access. On the flip side, requiring too few signers could negate the security and group decision making aspects that a proper multisig can provide.

When it comes to multisig wallets, Gnosis Safe is the gold standard and creating one is a simple process requiring just one on-chain transaction.

The Guide

Step 1

First, go to gnosis-safe.io and click Open App.

Step 2

Click Connect Wallet in the top-right corner, select your wallet provider, and then connect.

Step 3

Once your wallet is connected, click Create New Safe.

Step 4

Gnosis will now walk you through a quick setup process. You’ll choose your multisig’s blockchain network, give it a name, and add the other owners.

Step 5

After entering your information, you will see a review of your Safe’s details. If everything checks out, click Create. This will be your first and final on-chain transaction, so you will need to confirm this transaction in your wallet and pay a gas fee.

Congratulations!

This may take a few minutes to be confirmed, but what once it has, you’ll have officially created a Gnosis Safe! You will be brought to your dashboard where you can view and edit your Safe’s assets, transactions, owners, and apps. Your safe also has its own address, which you can find in the top left corner.

To continue down the DAO rabbit hole, check out our other guides for voting on Snapshot proposals and delegating governance tokens!