Electrum Review
Battle-tested open-source Bitcoin wallet with unmatched fee control and cold storage flexibility since 2011.
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Why We Recommend Electrum
Electrum has earned its reputation as one of the most trusted Bitcoin wallets through over a decade of continuous development and real-world use. The lightweight SPV architecture connects to decentralized Electrum servers, giving you instant access to your funds without downloading 500+ GB of blockchain data. What sets it apart is granular control: you can set exact sat/vB fees using mempool estimates, bump stuck transactions with Replace-By-Fee, and manage individual UTXOs to optimize future spending. SegWit support means consistently lower fees than legacy wallets, and the coin control feature lets power users consolidate dust during low-fee periods.
Security follows a defense-in-depth approach. Private keys stay encrypted locally and never touch Electrum's servers. You can verify every release using GPG signatures from known developers, with reproducible builds letting anyone audit the compilation process. The wallet supports cold storage through watching-only wallets paired with air-gapped signing devices, multisig configurations up to 15-of-15, and hardware wallet integration with Ledger, Trezor, Coldcard, and others via plugins. When phishing attacks targeted users through malicious server messages in the past, the team patched vulnerabilities quickly—a testament to active maintenance and community vigilance. No accounts, no KYC, no data collection.
Best For
Electrum is built for Bitcoiners who want full sovereignty over their coins without the resource demands of running a full node. If you're comfortable with seed phrases, understand UTXOs, and want precise control over transaction fees, this wallet delivers capabilities that simplified apps hide or lack entirely. It's particularly strong for cold storage setups where you create an offline signing wallet on an air-gapped machine and pair it with a watching-only wallet on your daily computer.
Hardware wallet users benefit from native integration—connect your Coldcard, Trezor, or Ledger and manage everything through Electrum's interface rather than manufacturer apps. Lightning Network support on both desktop and Android makes it viable for spending, while the ability to connect to your own Electrum server (or a trusted one) improves privacy over default configurations. Multisig users can create 2-of-3 vaults for inheritance planning or collaborative custody.
Power users and developers appreciate exportable private keys (no vendor lock-in), plugin architecture for extending functionality, and the ability to craft custom transactions. If you're consolidating hundreds of UTXOs, testing fee strategies, or building on Bitcoin, Electrum's transparency and flexibility make it the go-to desktop wallet. It's not designed for beginners wanting to buy Bitcoin with a credit card—there's no fiat on-ramp—but for those who already hold Bitcoin and demand control, nothing matches its feature depth.
Services & Features
Considerations
The interface prioritizes function over form, which creates a learning curve for users unfamiliar with concepts like fee estimation or UTXO management. Mobile versions lack some desktop features like manual fee entry. Users must verify downloads with GPG signatures to avoid phishing—fake Electrum sites have targeted users in the past.
