How are SAFE investments playing out?

[jstuder]

Just curious how the whole SAFE experiment is working out? Are investors outside of YC getting comfortable with them (just had a non YC group force a company back to a standard convertible note in lieu of a SAFE)?

On a more detailed level, since they are "contracts" for future equity, are they being treated as such? I had one lawyer suggest they could be classified as income to the company, similar to how the purchase price for a futures contract can be deemed as inducement income for the selling party to enter into the contract. In that sense, is there risk that the whole investment amount is actually inducement income and therefore taxable?

We've invested in a handful of Clerky/SAFE rounds and find them really convenient and easy, just wondering about the rest of the world?