Safe.accounts increase the security of your token storage. These smart contracts secure $40 billion; blockchain companies love them.
The good news is that you can create your own Safe account, and it's free!
These "digital safes" allow you to confirm transactions through multiple addresses. In the event of blockchain address hacking, the hacker would need access to several addresses to make the transactions, drastically reducing the risk.
For RealT platform users, using Safe accounts offers additional benefits. You can deposit euros from your bank account directly into the Safe with Monerium, change them into xDAI or USDC with 1inch, and pay Request Finance invoices. Everything is integrated into your Safe account, which offers you 5 free transactions a day. The Visa Gnosis Pay debit card is also on its way!
Even better, the RealT ecosystem (RMM, YAM) has been created to be 100% compatible with Safe accounts. USDC, xDAI, armmWXDAI, RealTokens, and armmRealTokens are automatically displayed.
In three steps, we'll secure your on-chain assets. You need either a Gnosis address (Metamask/Rabby) or a cold Wallet (Trezor/Ledger), and the whole process takes a (good) hour.
Create your Safe Account to Store your Digital Assets
Go to safe.global, and let's start by selecting the blockchain on which we'll be keeping our assets, in this case, the Gnosis Chain for our RealTokens.
To connect a Trezor/Ledger, select it when connecting the wallet (Connect Wallet in red). The Safe.global website will automatically detect whether Metamask, Rabby, etc., are installed on your device when you click on Connect Wallet.
With the Gnosis Chain selected and the wallet connected, all left to do is click on "Create new Safe" - and that's it.
What nickname would you like to give your Safe?
Just so you know, this name is only stored in your browser's cookies, so you can distinguish between the Safe accounts on your device.
The third step is the last one before the transaction that will allow you to create your Gnosis Safe:
We prefer to leave it as it is for now but will come back to it later.
For your information, the application lets you give the Safe's owner a nickname (the address we connected in Step 1). At the bottom of the screen, we'll set up authorizations later.
We launch the transaction to create the Safe by pressing "Next."
The little "Sponsored by Gnosis Chain" insert on the transaction page at the bottom is particularly interesting! The Gnosis Chain has decided to offer 5 transactions a day to all Safe users.
As a result, Safe creation is free, and we have 4 transactions left. You can send tokens, sign Request invoices, and trade tokens on 1inch without spending xDAI every day!
The Safe contract address is created to store our RealTokens, xDAI, USDC, etc... It's this address that we'll register at realt.co.
But first, we will download the Safe application on our phone to add a second blockchain address, which will be used only to validate transactions a second time...
Remember, for the moment, we only have the Gnosis address we used to create the Safe and the Safe address.
It's green, it's pretty, but we still need to improve the security of our RealTokens!
Safe{Wallet} on Mobile for Enhanced Safety
The Safe{Wallet} application is the mobile version of the site. It is available on IOS and Android and looks like this on the app store:
Although we've known Safe{global} since step 1 of this tutorial, this new Safe application doesn't know us at all. So, we need to link the two:
We start with the traditional "Load Safe Account" (image 1) "Gnosis Chain" (image 2). The Safe application now wants to know the address of our Safe Account.
Clicking on the field brings up 2 options: paste the address or scan the QR code. The more courageous can copy the 42 or 43 characters one by one.
To have this address, we must return to safe.global, where we first created the Safe account address. The QR code is available below the green logo, and the copy-and-paste is just to its right.
After entering our Safe address, "Next," the application asks us again for a nickname (again, this name will just be saved in your phone for future reference so that you can use the same or a different name).
The next page is the strangest:
The Safe application asks us to add an "Owner Key." To remind you, a single address currently controls our Safe.
Here, adding an extra address to secure our RealTokens and have transactions validated twice to block hackers is essential. We're going to create a new address directly using the Safe{Wallet} -> "Create Owner Key" application.
The Safe{Wallet} creates a new blockchain address. We will not receive RealTokens at this address; it will only be used to validate transactions a second time.
Click on Export to display the recovery phrase and write it down. After this page, you'll never have access to this phrase again.
The Safe{Wallet} application prohibits screenshots by default. Never take screenshots of secret phrases, never. And never save them in the cloud or electronically. This is the number one cause of address hacking.
The 12 words of the secret phrase created for this example can be used in any wallet. All you need is these 12 words to take control of the address.
Phew, finished!
Well, not yet. Do you remember? The Safe account on your computer and the Safe{Wallet} on your phone don't know each other.
You've just told the Safe{Wallet} on your phone that you know the Safe account.
Let's go back to app.safe.global to tell the news and register the address we've just created on the Safe{Wallet} as the second owner address.
Go to Settings-> Setup. This is where our Safe account's security comes into play. Click on Add New owner and copy/paste the address we created on the Safe{wallet} application.
We'll use only 2 addresses and 2 mandatory signatures for this example.
But if you lose access to one of the 2 addresses, your access to Safe account will be blocked. That's why we recommend registering 3 addresses with 2 out of 3 mandatory signatures, i.e., 2 signatures are enough, but 3 addresses are registered (but not on the same devices, so think of a backup address).
Phew, finished!
Yes, your Safe account is set up! Would you be able to try out a few transactions before transferring RealTokens? You can get free xDAIs here for practice. It's always the second address that pays for the transaction.
Register your Safe Account at RealT.co
Now comes the best part: talking to RealT support!
Let's ask them to give us access to change the RealTokens reception address.
Once you have received the response from the RealT team, you can refresh the portfolio page, and the option to update the Property Wallet appears: "Change Wallet/Network."
Safe accounts connect via Wallet Connect. Here, we click "Copy to clipboard" to copy the QR code to the browser clipboard. We'll copy this code directly into our Safe.
We return to safe.global and select "Use WalletConnect" from the available Apps. The "WalletConnect" will be the method used to connect our Safe to other websites3.
We paste the code taken from the RealT website:
And our Safe account communicates directly and displays the RealT logo!
On the Realt.co website, the connection has been successful, and your new address appears. All that remains is to confirm and save our new address in our RealT portfolio.
The final step is to notify the RealT support team so they can whitelist our new address.
Security Tips
The security of a safe account depends on the security of the addresses that control it. It is, therefore, crucial that these addresses have been created on different devices. If your electronic device is infected by a virus, creating different addresses on the same machine will not enhance security.
You can receive RealTokens in your Safe account and rent distribution at another address. For example, you could receive rent distribution on a Metamask address for ease of use.
You can have two addresses whitelisted to RealT: the Safe account address and another to buy RealTokens on the secondary market. You then simply transfer these RealTokens from your more "flexible" address to your Safe.
Digital safes or multi-signature contracts also allow sharing control of assets between several people. You can ask friends/family to act as backup if you lose access to an address. It's also widely used for corporate accounts where several people need to validate transactions.