Review of the Electrum cryptocurrency wallet: where to download, how to install, why it is worth using

Interest in cryptocurrency is constantly growing. This money has no physical embodiment – cryptocurrency coins exist only in the form of files. Since it is almost impossible to return or restore a stolen or lost crypt (if the owner forgot the key), the question of reliable storage arises. Electrum Cryptocurrency Wallet (Electrum) allows you to safely store and make cryptocurrency transactions. You can download and install it on any platform for free.

The principle of operation of Electrum Wallet

The wallet is a free and open source program. It can be installed both on the hard disk of a personal computer (PC) and on mobile devices running Android 5 and higher. There are versions for Windows (version 7 and above), Linux and Mac OS X (starting from version 10.1).

Advantages of the Electrum Crypto Wallet

Those who have already appreciated the possibilities of Electrum, note its following strengths:

• the ability to independently determine transaction fees;
• the wallet can be used in anonymous networks;
• support for many languages;
• the ability to upload transactions.

Additionally, you can protect your wallet using two-factor identification. But at the same time, you need to pay for the formation of one-time passwords.

Such advantages may well become the basis for using Electrum Wallet to store cryptocurrencies.

Among the disadvantages, users note the lack of a manual from developers and limited support for other cryptocurrencies other than bitcoin.

Where to download and how to install Electrum Wallet

You can download the latest version of the program distribution from the developers’ website at https://electrum.org/#download . The address of the folder where the application is downloaded should not contain Cyrillic characters.

For Windows, there is a portable version of the wallet that does not take up space in the PC memory. But when using it, you need to be sure that the computer is not infected with viruses. The portable version, downloaded to a flash drive of a sufficiently large volume, makes it an analogue of a hardware wallet.

There is also an executable file that can work offline. After downloading the offline or portable version, you can immediately start using the wallet.

From the official website of the application, you can download its open source code and modify it for your own projects.

How to use the Electrum cryptocurrency wallet

The Electrum wallet appeared in 2011, when the cost of bitcoin was several dollars, and was originally intended only for transactions with bitcoins. The developer of the application was Thomas Voitlen, who had previously been involved in neural network technology.

Electrum refers to the so-called cold wallets that you can work with without connecting to the Internet. Now the developers have added the ability to support the Vertcoin coin.

At the time of the creation of the wallet, there were practically no competing applications. The wallet has been constantly being refined, but since 2015, mainly by third-party developers.

In the process of finalizing the wallet, several versions were developed that supported other cryptomonets. These versions have not been officially approved, but they can be found on the Internet. It should be borne in mind that these are not separate versions of the Electrum wallet, but independent programs.

Electrum can be integrated with hardware wallets.

The wallet has 4 tabs:

• History;
• Send;
• Receive;
• Addresses.

The purpose of tabs is intuitively clear from their name.

Receiving funds

To receive funds, you need to launch the application and go to the “Receipt” tab. The wallet address will be written in the “Receiving address” field. It can be copied and sent to the sender.

You can also send a QR code to the sender, which is located on the right.

Sending funds

If the cryptocurrency needs to be sent to another user, go to the “Sending” tab, fill in the fields of the form that opens and click the “Send” button.

All transfers and withdrawals of funds are displayed in the transaction history. The address of sending funds can be copied from the Addresses tab.

Electrum Wallet Private Keys

Private (they are also called private or personal) wallet keys are generated based on a secret (seed) phrase. They should not be disclosed to anyone, so that unauthorized persons do not have access to the management of the wallet and the funds contained in it. It is better to print or photograph the secret phrase and store it in a safe place. With its help, in some cases, it is possible to restore access to the wallet when unauthorized persons have gained access to it or the password has been forgotten.

Private keys can be exported. On the basis of private keys, public keys are generated, which can be specified to third parties to receive transfers from them.

Electrum Commissions

The amount of commissions for transactions can be changed in the “Settings”, where there is a tab “Commissions”. The transaction fee can be set automatically or manually.

The speed of the transaction depends on the amount of the commission. If the transfer is urgent, the commission should not be lower than the average.

The commission amount is proportional to the transaction volume in bytes. The minimum commission is 1 Satoshi (1 bitcoin contains 100 million Satoshi) for 1 byte.

Electrum Wallet: reviews

Users consider the Electrum wallet to be one of the most reliable ways to store bitcoins. Cryptocurrency investors appreciate Electrum Wallet for the simplicity of the interface and the ability to write a portable version to a USB stick or disk, although they note that the status of transactions is not always displayed correctly.

Published: 1 September, 2021