The Electrum wallet is a free, open-source, Bitcoin-only desktop wallet that Thomas Voegtlin first released in 2011. As of October 2026 the current release is 4.8.3, published on 23 October 2026. It is light, fast and powerful, with multisig, hardware-wallet support, watch-only wallets and Lightning. Its weak point has been distribution: in 2018–2019, attackers used fake update prompts to steal over 771 BTC. This review is built from Electrum’s documentation, release notes and published security reports. It begins with how to confirm that the copy you install is genuine.
Key takeaways
- Electrum is self-custodial and Bitcoin-only. Your keys stay on your computer or on a hardware wallet you connect to it.
- Its biggest documented losses came from fake “update” messages pushed by malicious servers, not from a broken key scheme. Verifying the GPG signature on each download is the main defence.
- New Electrum seeds use Electrum’s own versioned format, not BIP39. Most other wallets cannot restore them, although Electrum can import BIP39 seeds.
- By default it uses public Electrum servers, which can see your addresses. Running your own server (Electrs or Fulcrum) removes that leak.
- The software is free. The optional TrustedCoin two-factor service charges its own fees.
Electrum wallet in one minute
Electrum is an SPV (“simplified payment verification”) client. It does not download the whole blockchain. It asks Electrum servers for the transaction history of your addresses and checks block headers itself. This is why it starts in seconds on an ordinary laptop, and why it has stayed popular with people who want a light desktop wallet without running a full node.
The project is developed in the open on GitHub under the spesmilo organisation and is distributed from electrum.org. Builds are available for Windows, macOS, Linux and Android. As of October 2026 the official site lists Electrum 4.8.3. Its release notes describe 4.8.1 (10 August 2026), 4.8.2 (11 September 2026) and 4.8.3 (23 October 2026) as security updates. The 4.8.3 fix covers a high-severity issue in which a malicious server could replace a transaction you had just broadcast and try to trick you into replacing it with a fee bump. The 4.8.2 fix covers Lightning channel backups that, for some wallet types, lacked a key needed to sweep funds after a force-close. Affected wallets show a warning at startup and ask you to export new backups.
There is no Electrum company, token, exchange or support desk. Electrum is a tool for people who are comfortable managing their own keys. If you want a wider view of self-custody options first, our crypto wallets and security hub sets out the categories.
The fake-update attacks and how to verify an Electrum download
Electrum’s best-known security incident did not break its cryptography. It used the server network instead. From late December 2018, attackers added malicious nodes to the public Electrum server network. When an older client connected and tried to broadcast a transaction, these servers sent back an error message styled as an official warning. It told the user to install a “security update” from an unofficial GitHub repository. That download was malware that stole wallet contents. Malwarebytes reported on 16 April 2019 that the attackers had collected well over 771 BTC, about $4 million at the time. Later in April 2019, The Hacker News reported a botnet of more than 152,000 infected machines tied to the campaign and about $4.6 million in losses. The attackers also ran denial-of-service attacks against honest servers, which pushed old clients towards the malicious ones.
The developers changed the client so that servers can no longer display rich-text messages. The lesson for users still applies: Electrum never asks you to update through a pop-up from a server. A message inside the wallet urging you to download something is a red flag.
Electrum download: verifying the signature
Electrum’s site recommends GPG signature checks rather than hash checks. A hash published on the same server as the file proves nothing if that server is compromised. The documented process is as follows:
- Type electrum.org into your browser yourself (or use a bookmark you made earlier). Do not click search ads, forum links or direct messages. The installer and its matching
.ascsignature file are served from download.electrum.org. - Import the signing key, for example ThomasV’s public key, with
gpg --import ThomasV.asc. - Check the key’s fingerprint against sources independent of the download page, such as keyservers, earlier releases or the developers’ published fingerprints.
- Run
gpg --verifyon the.ascfile, for examplegpg --verify Electrum-4.8.3.tar.gz.asc. You need a “Good signature” from the expected key.
Lookalike sites that copy Electrum’s layout and offer trojaned installers are an ongoing pattern. Our guide to spotting a fake crypto wallet covers the warning signs. The rule here is simple: if you cannot verify the signature, do not install the file.
Electrum seeds vs BIP39: recovery compatibility
This is the part of Electrum most likely to surprise people during recovery. Since version 2.0, Electrum has generated its own seed type. The phrase uses words from the same 2048-word list as BIP39. Its validity, however, comes from a version number inside an HMAC-SHA512 hash of the phrase, not from a wordlist checksum. Electrum’s documentation reserves version prefixes for standard wallets (0x01), SegWit wallets (0x100) and two-factor wallets (0x101). The developers’ reasoning is that BIP39 phrases do not record which derivation scheme they belong to. A wallet that drops a scheme could then show an empty balance instead of an error. For that reason Electrum does not generate BIP39 seeds.
| What you have | Restore in Electrum? | Restore elsewhere? | What to watch |
|---|---|---|---|
| Electrum-generated seed (2.0+) | Yes, as a standard restore | Only in the few wallets that support Electrum seeds. Most hardware wallets and BIP39 apps reject it. | Write down “Electrum seed, SegWit” next to the words so a future you knows the format. |
| BIP39 seed from another wallet or device | Yes. Choose Options, tick BIP39 seed, then use “Detect Existing Accounts”. | Yes, in most BIP39 wallets | Electrum will not stop a wrong derivation path. Match the script type to your address prefix: 1 for p2pkh, 3 for p2sh-segwit, bc1 for native SegWit. |
| Two-factor (TrustedCoin) seed | Yes, and you can disable 2FA when restoring from the seed | No | The seed also restores the TrustedCoin-held cosigner key, so it must be guarded. |
| Hardware-wallet wallet in Electrum | The device holds the seed. Electrum stores only public keys. | Yes, through the device’s own BIP39 backup | Losing the Electrum file loses only labels and settings. |
If a restore shows zero coins, the usual cause is a mismatched seed type or derivation path, not lost funds. Our walkthrough on how to recover a crypto wallet covers the general troubleshooting order. Never type a seed into a website or a “recovery service” that claims to help.
The 4.8.2 notes also matter here. Wallets built from BIP39 seeds or imported xprv keys always have non-deterministic Lightning keys. Their channel backups therefore need special care, as covered in the Lightning section below.
Privacy: Electrum servers and running your own
An Electrum client has to ask some server about its addresses. By default it connects to public servers run by volunteers, and those servers can link your addresses to your IP address. Electrum also queries several servers to compare block headers, which means more parties see your traffic. That leak is acceptable for some users and a deal-breaker for others.
The fix is to run your own server on top of your own Bitcoin node. The two common choices are Electrs (Rust, lightweight) and Fulcrum (C++, faster on large wallets). In Electrum’s network settings, you point the client at your server and disable automatic server selection, so it never falls back to public nodes. You can also connect over Tor. Users who want Bitcoin privacy beyond this, including coin selection and avoiding address reuse, can read our anonymous Bitcoin wallet guide.
Your own server also closes the attack path used in 2018–2019, because a malicious public server can no longer send you anything. It does not, however, replace verifying your downloads.
Multisig, hardware wallets and watch-only mode
Electrum has supported multisig wallets for years. You choose the number of cosigners and the threshold (for example two of three), and each cosigner contributes a master public key. Partially signed transactions can be passed between cosigners as files or QR codes. For the theory and the trade-offs of shared custody, see our multisig wallet explainer.
Electrum hardware wallet support: Electrum has no secure element of its own. It is software on a general-purpose computer, so keys held directly in an Electrum wallet are only as safe as that computer. To keep keys off the machine, Electrum’s documentation lists support for Trezor, Ledger, KeepKey, Digital Bitbox, BitBox02, Archos Safe-T, Coldcard and Blockstream Jade. The 4.8.2 notes add deprecation warnings for BitBox01 and Safe-T, so check the current requirements file before relying on an older device.
Watch-only: you can import a master public key (xpub) to watch balances and build unsigned transactions on an online machine. You then sign on an offline computer or a hardware device. Electrum’s site describes this cold-storage pattern as a core feature.
TrustedCoin 2FA: the optional two-factor wallet is a 2-of-3 multisig in which TrustedCoin holds one key and cosigns only after you enter a time-based code. It is a paid third-party service. TrustedCoin sets its own fees, and Electrum’s 4.8.1 notes still include fixes to the TrustedCoin plugin. Check the fee shown in the wallet-creation dialog before choosing it, and keep the seed, which can restore and disable 2FA if TrustedCoin is unavailable.
Lightning in Electrum
Electrum added Lightning in its 4.x series, so one desktop app can hold on-chain bitcoin and open Lightning channels. The 4.8.x release notes refer to trampoline routing, submarine swaps (moving funds between on-chain and Lightning) coordinated over Nostr, Lightning address handling and a Nostr Wallet Connect plugin. Forwarding payments for others is labelled experimental and logs warnings on mainnet.
Lightning adds a second backup problem. A seed alone does not fully restore open channels. Electrum uses static channel backups that let you ask a peer to force-close and return your funds on-chain. The 11 September 2026 release (4.8.2) found that some backups for anchor channels were missing a key needed to sweep funds after a remote force-close. If you use Lightning in Electrum, update and export fresh backups when the app asks you to. Keep Lightning balances to amounts you would be prepared to wait on during a force-close.
Who Electrum suits, and who it does not
- Good fit: Bitcoin holders who want a mature, free desktop wallet, a front end for a hardware wallet, a watch-only setup or a straightforward multisig, and who will check signatures.
- Poor fit: anyone who wants many coins (Electrum is Bitcoin-only), a polished mobile-first app, built-in buying, or a seed phrase that restores in any BIP39 wallet.
- Costs: as of October 2026 the app is free. You pay normal Bitcoin network fees, which you set per transaction, plus TrustedCoin or Lightning swap fees only if you use those features.
FAQ
Is Electrum safe to use?
Electrum’s code is open source and has been maintained since 2011. Its documented losses came from users installing fake updates pushed by malicious servers in 2018–2019. Used safely, meaning a signature-verified download, an encrypted wallet file, a hardware wallet for larger sums, and ideally your own server, it is a well-understood tool. Keys held in a hot Electrum wallet are exposed to any malware on that computer.
Can I restore an Electrum seed in another wallet?
Usually not. New Electrum seeds use Electrum’s own versioned format rather than BIP39, so most hardware wallets and mobile apps will reject them. A few wallets support Electrum seeds. The reliable path is to restore in Electrum itself, then send the coins to a new BIP39 wallet if you are migrating. Electrum can import BIP39 seeds from other wallets.
Does Electrum support Lightning?
Yes. As of the 4.8 series, Electrum supports Lightning channels, trampoline routing and submarine swaps between on-chain and Lightning funds. Channel funds need separate backups, and the September 2026 release asked some users to export new backups after a defect affecting anchor channels. Treat Lightning in a desktop wallet as a spending balance, not long-term storage.
Where is the official Electrum download?
The project’s official site is electrum.org, and installer files come from download.electrum.org together with GPG signature files. Type the address yourself or use a bookmark. Ignore search ads, social-media links and any pop-up inside the wallet that urges an urgent update. Verify the signature before installing.
Crypto is volatile and risky; this is education, not financial advice. Do your own research.
