The Binance SAFU Origin
- Centralized Exchange
In April 2018, Changpeng Zhao (CZ) misspelled “safe” as “SAFU” during a response on Twitter while reassuring users during routine maintenance concerns. The typo went viral on Crypto Twitter, and Binance leaned into it, later formalizing the joke into the Secure Asset Fund for Users (SAFU) in July 2018, an emergency insurance fund seeded with trading fees. The term became legendary after Binance used SAFU funds to fully cover losses from the May 2019 Binance hack, cementing “Funds are SAFU” as crypto lore.