Electrum review
Last reviewed 2026-08-25
Security warning
Electrum is a fast, lightweight bitcoin wallet that has been maintained since November 2011, and the single most important thing to know about it is that you must only ever download it from electrum.org. The project puts that warning at the top of its own front page, and there is a reason.
Since December 21, 2018, attackers have run a phishing campaign against Electrum users rather than against Electrum. Malicious servers on the public Electrum network could display rich-text error messages inside the wallet telling users to install an urgent update from a lookalike repository. The fake wallet then asked for a two-factor code at startup, which the real one never does before a payment, and the money was gone. ZDNet's investigation in October 2020 traced more than 22 million dollars, about 1,980 BTC, stolen with this method since the campaign began, and SecurityWeek reported a botnet of over 150,000 hosts flooding legitimate servers so that users would land on hostile ones instead. Electrum shipped fixes that strip HTML formatting out of server messages and blacklist known-bad servers, and the project also states that it never offers private support, so anyone contacting you as "Electrum support" is an imposter.
Underneath the noise, the wallet is one of the most solid pieces of software in bitcoin. It verifies your transactions by SPV against servers anybody can run, so there is no chain to download, and it supports hardware wallets from Ledger, Trezor and KeepKey, multisig, cold storage with watch-only wallets, and optional two-factor signing through Trustedcoin. It is MIT licensed, its builds are reproducible and signed by several independent builders, and even the website is protected: changes have to be signed by two developer keys before a script publishes them.
Electrum was written by Thomas Voegtlin, who founded Electrum Technologies GmbH in Berlin in 2013 to maintain it. It runs on Windows, macOS, Linux and Android, where the official build is on both Google Play and F-Droid. There is no iOS version.
- Made by
- Electrum Technologies GmbH
- Type
- Software wallet
- Runs on
- Android, Windows, macOS, Linux
- Who holds the keys
- self-custodial, keys generated and encrypted on your own machine, with transactions checked by SPV
- Bitcoin only
- Yes
- Connectivity
- Connects to public Electrum servers or one you run yourself, verifying your transactions by SPV
- Released
- November 2011, written by Thomas Voegtlin
- Coin support
- Bitcoin only, with hardware wallet, multisig and watch-only cold storage support
Pros and cons
What works
- Continuously maintained since November 2011, which nothing else on this list can claim
- Lightweight: it checks your transactions by SPV instead of downloading the whole chain
- Reproducible builds, signed by several independent builders, with signatures published next to every download
- Hardware wallet support for Ledger, Trezor and KeepKey, plus multisig and watch-only cold storage
- MIT licensed, and anyone can run the server software it talks to, so no company controls the network
- An official Android build on both Google Play and F-Droid
What to watch
- Users are the target of a fake-update scam that ZDNet traced to more than 22 million dollars of thefts by October 2020
- The interface assumes you already know what a change address and a derivation path are
- Windows builds are often flagged by antivirus heuristics, which the project says it cannot do anything about
- No iOS version, and no built-in way to buy bitcoin
- Two-factor signing runs through a third party, Trustedcoin, rather than the wallet alone
Worth comparing
- Sparrow WalletThe desktop wallet to coordinate hardware signers and multisig from, with a verification tool that also checks other projects' releases.
- Bitcoin CoreThe reference implementation, and the only wallet here that checks the rules itself instead of trusting somebody else's server.
- Blockstream GreenBlockstream's own Bitcoin and Liquid wallet, whose 2FA cosigning multisig is its reason to exist and has been closed to new accounts since May 2025.
Frequently asked questions
Is Electrum safe to use?
The wallet itself has a strong record: reproducible builds, several independent signers, and keys that stay encrypted on your own machine. The danger is around it. Download only from electrum.org, verify the GPG signature, and ignore any update prompt that appears inside the wallet.
How do I avoid the Electrum fake-update scam?
Never install an update because a message inside the wallet told you to, because those messages come from servers, not from the developers. Get every release from electrum.org, check its signature, and never type a two-factor code at startup: Electrum only asks for one when you are sending.
Has Electrum itself ever been hacked?
No. The flaw exploited from December 2018 was that malicious servers could show formatted messages inside the client, which was used to advertise fake wallets. Electrum patched the client to strip that formatting and to blacklist hostile servers; the losses came from installing the fakes.
Is there an Electrum app for iPhone?
No. Electrum publishes builds for Windows, macOS, Linux and Android, and the Android app is on both Google Play and F-Droid. iPhone users need a different wallet, such as BlueWallet or Muun.
Who is behind Electrum?
Thomas Voegtlin created it in November 2011 and founded Electrum Technologies GmbH, based in Berlin, in 2013 to develop and distribute it. The software is MIT licensed and dozens of contributors have worked on it since.