Layer-2 blockchain Blast has ended its partnership with integration with Safe, formerly known as Gnosis Safe. That decision came out of concerns around third-party risk and usability. Blast, which is supported by Paradigm and led by Blur founder Pacman, is building their own multisig solution. For example, they’re moving beyond Safe’s front-end as their multisig wallet. This decision follows just weeks after Safe announced a dramatic company-wide restructuring.
In April 2023, Blast publicly announced the decision not to renew its supply agreement with Safe in order to lower supply chain risk. The company encourages developers to self-host or use BrahmaFi. They’re currently implementing multisig directly into their mobile platform, so users can easily transact with one another on-the-go.
The decision follows a record $1.43 billion hack of the crypto exchange Bybit. Investigators connected this theft to a developer environment for Safe that had been compromised. The attacker, known as TraderTraitor and connected to North Korea’s TraderTraitor group, went after a developer’s laptop. They turned a fake stock trading simulator into a vehicle to deliver malware and steal high value session tokens.
In making the company’s restructuring announcement, Safe co-founder Lukas Schor said it was a change made necessary by increasing complexity.
complexity" and "started to affect our ability to move at the pace we expect of ourselves" - Lukas Schor
Blast is committed to ensuring its community members have safe, reliable wallet access. It does this mainly through an integrated multisig functionality built right into Blast Mobile.
That's why we're building multisig functionality directly into Blast Mobile — bringing secure wallet access to the entire Blast community - Blast
Blast’s cancellation is a major victory for serious security concerns. Importantly, it showcases the urgent imperative for more custodial oversight over essential infrastructure in the decentralized finance (DeFi) world. By creating its own multisig solution, Blast can prevent the risks attached to having a vulnerable provider almost entirely.
