[RFP] Safenet Beta Staking UI - Call for Operators

Proposals
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Following the adoption of SEP-55, the Safe Ecosystem Foundation (SEF) received the mandate to run an open RFP process to fund independent operators enabling SAFE staking on Safenet Beta.

Background

Currently, only one staking interface is publicly available: https://staking.safenet-beta.eth.limo/, based on open-source code in this repository.

Relying on a single interface introduces centralisation risk, operational dependency, and a single point of failure.

At the same time, broader adoption of SAFE staking requires reaching users through a variety of platforms and user experiences.

To address both goals, this RFP is designed to:

  • Increase resilience through multiple independent, permissionless interfaces
  • Expand adoption via integrations into existing platforms and services

SEF will manage the RFP process, evaluate submissions, select suitable providers, define milestones, and execute the grants.

What we’re looking for

We are inviting teams or entities to build and operate solutions that enable SAFE holders to:

  • Stake SAFE
  • Unstake SAFE
  • Claim rewards

Solutions may take different forms, including:

  • Non-custodial, permissionless staking interfaces
  • Smart contract wrappers or automation layers
  • Custodial or integrated staking offerings

Our goal is to support a diverse ecosystem of staking access points serving different user segments.

RFP Structure: Two Tracks

Applicants should apply to one of the following tracks.

Track A: Permissionless Non Custodial Interfaces Resilience Focus

Goal:

Reduce reliance on a single UI and ensure robust, decentralised access to Safenet staking.

Typical examples:

  • Web UIs similar to the current reference implementation
  • IPFS hosted frontends with ENS domains
  • Alternative UX implementations such as mobile or CLI

Requirements:

  • Fully non custodial
  • Open source frontend code
  • Direct interaction with Safenet staking contracts with no custodial intermediary
  • Support:
    • Wallet connection such as injected wallets, WalletConnect, or Safe Apps
    • Staking, unstaking, and reward claiming
  • Target uptime of at least 95 percent

Nice to have:

  • Alternative hosting such as IPFS and ENS
  • UX improvements compared to the reference UI
  • Additional transparency features such as validator insights or simulations

Track B: Integrated Custodial Wrapper Solutions Adoption Focus

Goal:

Expand access to SAFE staking via platforms users already trust and use.

Typical examples:

  • Wallet integrations
  • Staking services
  • Centralised platforms
  • Smart contract wrappers optimizing staking strategies

Open source:

  • Not strictly required
  • Applicants must provide sufficient technical documentation for evaluation

Nice to have:

  • Existing user base or distribution channel
  • UX that abstracts validator selection or optimizes yield
  • Reporting, analytics, or automation features

Guardrails:

  • Solutions must not obscure or misrepresent underlying staking mechanics
  • Users must not be exposed to undisclosed risks
  • SEF reserves the right to exclude solutions introducing excessive custodial or counterparty risk relative to their benefits

Shared Baseline Requirements

  • Solution must:
    • Enable staking, unstaking, and reward claiming
    • Integrate with Safenet Beta contracts
  • Must meet agreed reliability and security standards defined during evaluation
  • Applicant must be an individual or legal entity able to pass SEF AML and compliance checks

Compensation

Up to 5 operators will be selected across both tracks.

Each approved operator may receive a grant of up to 100,000 SAFE, subject to achieving agreed milestones.

Grant size, duration, and milestone structure will be defined with each selected operator.

SEF may prioritise diversity across implementation approaches and user segments when selecting grantees.

Applications are accepted on a rolling basis until all slots are filled.

How to apply

Send an email to rfp+staking@safefoundation.org

Include:

  • Description of you, your team, or entity
  • Track you are applying for
  • Description of your solution or implementation plan
  • Link to your UI or integration if available
  • Link to repository if applicable
  • Intended hosting or distribution approach
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Update May 4th:

Thanks for everyone submitting proposals to this RFP. In order to make a final review and decision of the application, we would like to ask all remaining interested parties to submit their proposals no later than May 17, 2026.

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Request for proposals RFPs is a smart strategy to provide funding to solve for well known opportunities.

Decentralized SAFE staking

It’d be great to have an easy to use with Safe accounts, decentralized SAFE staking, web app be funded.

Similar to what @devanon built for core Safe account actions with Eternal Safe: eternalsafe.eth.link

Automations

After apps have the core features it’d be useful to easily create custom automations

For example

  • Auto claim SAFE rewards every X days
  • Auto restake or sell SAFE every X days
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We received a total of 10 applications. Thanks everyone for participating in this RFP! We’ll be reviewing the proposals and reach out to the grantees over the next 1-2 weeks.

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Safenet Beta Staking UI RFP: Operators Selected

We opened this RFP on April 27 under SEP-55. By the May 17 deadline, SEF received 10 submissions. Six operators are being awarded grants totaling 500,000 SAFE.

Tier structure

Tiers match the deliverable scope, not how much work was done before applying.

Tier A (100k) funds operators shipping a full production staking interface or multi-component stack from scratch.

Tier B (60k) funds code extensions of an existing solution.

Tier C (40k) funds ongoing operations and maintenance of an existing solution.

Selected operators

Operator Tier Grant What they’re shipping
CoBuilders A 100,000 SAFE A staking dashboard, a CLI, and an MCP server so SAFE holders can stake from Claude Desktop, Cursor, or scripts. Plus subgraphs and a REST wrapper that any other Track A operator can consume.
Chainza A 100,000 SAFE A staking dashboard, plus a reusable React widget that any wallet, DAO tool, or dashboard can drop in to embed SAFE staking with one component import.
BootNode A 100,000 SAFE A staking dashboard with a validator selector showing on-chain participation rates, a plain-language risk preview before signing, and Safe Apps integration.
Protofire A 100,000 SAFE A production staking dashboard with strong incident response (99% uptime SLA, 4-hour P1 response).
Eternal Safe B 60,000 SAFE SAFE staking inside Eternal Safe, the IPFS-hosted Safe wallet instance. Stake, unstake, and claim without leaving the wallet, with fully parsed human-readable signing previews.
Core Contributors C 40,000 SAFE Continued operation and maintenance of the existing staking interface at staking.safenet-beta.eth, which is the UI Safe Wallet integrates today.
Total 500,000 SAFE

Milestone structure

To keep the program simple across six grants in parallel, the same two milestones apply to every operator:

  • M1 at Month 3 (60% of grant amount). Production deployment live, frontend open-source under MIT, all baseline RFP flows working (stake, unstake, claim, wallet integration).
  • M2 at Month 12 (40% of grant amount). 12-month operational review.

12-month commitment

Every grantee, building from scratch or operating existing code, will have to commit to running their interface for a full 12 months. That covers:

  • Maintenance for dependency updates and security patches
  • Incident response when contracts, RPCs, or hosting providers have issues
  • Uptime targeting at least 95%, with structural redundancy where the architecture supports it
  • A public operational report at Month 12 covering uptime, usage, and any incidents along the way

The 40% held back to M2 is the enforcement mechanism. If an operator ships at M1 but lets the interface decay, M2 doesn’t release.

What each operator brings

CoBuilders submitted the most thorough proposal in the pool. The MCP server opens a path for AI-agent clients (Claude Desktop, Cursor, anything MCP-compatible) to stake on Safenet, which no other operator addresses. Their subgraphs and REST wrapper are also designed for other Track A operators to consume, including the existing reference UI.

Chainza designed for compounding value. Their widget can be embedded by any future wallet, dashboard, or DAO tool with a single component import. Their hosting design is the strongest in the pool, with five independent access paths to the same deployed application. They’ve shipped this architecture before at Velora and ExtraWallet on the same stack the RFP requires.

BootNode has a very deep Safe ecosystem track record. Several engineers were former core contributors to the Safe React App and Safe Apps SDK, and BootNode is a top-10 SafeDAO delegatee today. The Gnosis Bridge Explorer they built and operate is the closest UX precedent for the validator-aware product the RFP asks for.

Protofire has been contributing to Safe since 2018, touching the first versions of the codebase and helping expand Safe to over 100 chains. For this RFP they shipped a working PoC on Sepolia before applying, with stake, unstake, withdraw, and claim transactions already executing on-chain. The PoC plus their 99% SLA and named response times bring real operational discipline to the portfolio.

Eternal Safe holds the strongest cypherpunk posture of any applicant. Fully open source, IPFS and ENS only, no centralized backends, immutable versioned releases. Adding Safenet staking inside Eternal Safe means SAFE holders who rely on a decentralized wallet can stake without leaving their trusted surface. Devan is a previous Safe Grant alum.

Core Contributors has been operating the existing Safenet Beta staking interface since launch. That’s the interface Safe Wallet integrates today, which makes continued well-resourced operation a baseline for the rest of Safenet Beta. There’s a secondary benefit: having the team closest to Safenet operate a user-facing UI generates operational feedback that flows back into protocol decisions in a way no third-party operator can fully replicate.

On the remaining proposals

We received four further submissions that we’re not advancing in this round. Thanks to everyone who submitted, the quality of the pool made this a real selection process.

What’s next

We aim to finalize Grant agreements over the next 2-4 weeks. First mainnet deployments are expected by June/July.

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