The name became popular thanks to Binance founder (Changpeng Zhao) who, after an unscheduled maintenance in 2018, assured the community that their funds were safe. /FUNDS ARE SAFE/. The typo and subsequent meme led to the creation of the official name of the fund, and the term "SAFU" is still used in the crypto community as a synonym for the project's security.
Purpose: The fund was created in July 2018 to protect users’ funds in extreme situations such as hacking attacks, cyber threats, or system crashes.
Funding: Binance allocates a percentage of trading fees to this fund, which continuously increases its value.
Value: As of February 2026, the SAFU fund was valued at approximately $1 billion.
Security: The assets in the fund are stored in separate “cold” wallets, meaning they are not connected to the internet and are immune to online attacks.