Electrum
One of the oldest Bitcoin wallets, lightweight, with multisig, hardware wallet support and Lightning. Free and open source on desktop and Android.
What is Electrum?
Electrum is a bitcoin-only wallet for Windows, macOS, Linux and Android. It is free and distributed under the MIT licence. Instead of keeping a copy of the whole blockchain, it asks servers that index it and checks the transactions in your history using SPV. The website says your private keys are encrypted and never leave your computer, and that your funds can be recovered from a secret phrase. The FAQ states that Electrum supports only Bitcoin. The trade-off of the server design is covered below: the servers see your addresses and your IP address unless you take extra steps.Key facts
- Type
- Desktop
- Made by
- Electrum Technologies, Germany
- Works with
- Windows, macOS, Linux, Android
- Keys
- You hold the keys
- Bitcoin-only
- Yes
- Source code
- Open source
- Lightning
- Yes
- Multisig
- Yes
- Experience
- Intermediate
- Price
- free
Good for
- Lightweight desktop wallet with hardware wallet support
- Multisig and scripting for technical users
Watch out
- Fake Electrum downloads and fake "support" contacts exist, download only from electrum.org
- Its own seed format is not compatible with other wallets
Electrum features
Lightweight, server-based. Electrum’s FAQ says the client never sends private keys to the servers. Servers can still leave out relevant transactions, and a connection exposes your addresses and your IP address to the server. Anyone who cares about privacy can run their own server, and the documentation describes two ways to use Electrum through Tor. Cold storage. You can keep the keys on an offline computer and run a watching-only copy of the wallet online. The documentation walks through creating an unsigned transaction, signing it on the offline machine and broadcasting it from the online one. Multisig. The documentation walks through a 2-of-2 setup: two separate wallets, usually on separate machines, that must both sign. The partially signed transaction passes between them as a file, a QR code or through the Cosigner Pool plugin. Hardware wallets. The website lists hardware wallets among the things its plugins support. The Linux setup guide names Trezor, Ledger, KeepKey, Digital Bitbox, BitBox02, Archos Safe-T, Coldcard and Jade. Check the current list for your model before you buy. Lightning. Electrum has had Lightning support since release 4.0.1 in July 2020, where the release notes called it experimental. Release 4.6.0 (July 2025) states that Lightning can no longer be enabled in wallets without a software keystore, so a hardware or watch-only wallet cannot open new channels. The documentation also describes running a watchtower for your Lightning wallet.Security and custody
Electrum is open source under the MIT licence, and the code is on GitHub. The FAQ says the seed and private keys are encrypted with AES-256-CBC and are decrypted only briefly when signing, and that encryption of the wallet file has been on by default since version 2.8. The website warns against downloading Electrum from any source other than electrum.org and tells you to verify the GPG signature of the download; the documentation has a step-by-step guide for that. It also describes private offers of Electrum support as likely scams. One FAQ answer, written for Electrum 2.0, says you cannot import private keys into a wallet that has a seed and should sweep them instead.Electrum alternatives
Sparrow
A bitcoin-only desktop wallet for hardware wallets, multisig, coin control and your own node, with a detailed transaction view.
Bitcoin Core
The reference full node with a built-in wallet, if you want one program that verifies everything itself.
Wasabi Wallet
A desktop wallet focused on privacy, with Tor, coin control and coinjoin through independent coordinators.
Nunchuk
A multisig-first wallet that runs on phones as well as computers, with timelock-based inheritance planning.
Compare all desktop wallets side by side
Related lists: multisig wallets bitcoin-only wallets Lightning wallets all wallets A–Z
Electrum FAQ
Does Electrum support coins other than bitcoin?
No. Electrum's FAQ says it supports only Bitcoin. Forks for other coins exist, but they are separate projects that Electrum does not check or endorse.
Where should I download Electrum from?
Only from electrum.org. The website warns against any other source and recommends verifying the GPG signature of the download, and the documentation includes a guide for doing it on Linux.
Does Electrum run a full node?
No. Electrum asks servers that index the blockchain and checks your transactions using SPV. The FAQ says servers can leave out relevant transactions and see your addresses and IP address, and it suggests running your own server if privacy matters to you.
Can I use Lightning with a hardware wallet in Electrum?
Not for new channels in current versions. The release notes for version 4.6.0 (July 2025) say Lightning can no longer be enabled in wallets without a software keystore, which covers hardware and watch-only wallets.
Guides
Sources
The text above was checked on against these pages: