Introduction[edit]

See Electrum for introduction and warnings!

Primarily refer to Electrum! Use this page only in case newer versions of Electrum are desired!

Community Support Only!:
	`Community Support Only` means Whonix ™ developers are unlikely to provide free support for wiki chapters or pages with this tag. See Community Support for further information, including implications and possible alternatives.

Install Electrum[edit]

Installation Steps[edit]

Note: The following instructions should be applied in Whonix-Workstation ™ (Qubes-Whonix ™: anon-whonix).

1. Open a terminal.

If you are using Qubes-Whonix ™, complete the following steps.

Qubes App Launcher (blue/grey "Q") → Whonix-Workstation ™ App Qube (commonly named anon-whonix) → Xfce Terminal

If you are using a graphical Whonix ™ with XFCE, run.

Start Menu → Xfce Terminal

2. Import the gpg public key of Electrum developer Thomas Voegtlin. ^[1]

Digital signatures can increase security but this requires knowledge. Learn more about digital software signature verification.

Securely download the signing key.

scurl-download https://raw.githubusercontent.com/spesmilo/electrum/master/pubkeys/ThomasV.asc

scurl-download https://raw.githubusercontent.com/spesmilo/electrum/master/pubkeys/ThomasV.asc

Display the key's fingerprint.

gpg --keyid-format long --import --import-options show-only --with-fingerprint ThomasV.asc

gpg --keyid-format long --import --import-options show-only --with-fingerprint ThomasV.asc

Verify the fingerprint. It should show.

In early-2019, the output is identical to the following image.
Figure: Fingerprint Verification

Key fingerprint = 6694 D8DE 7BE8 EE56 31BE D950 2BD5 824B 7F94 70E6

The most important check is confirming the key fingerprint exactly matches the output below. ^[2]

Warning:

Do not continue if the fingerprint does not match! This risks using infected or erroneous files! The whole point of verification is to confirm file integrity.

Add the signing key.

gpg --import ThomasV.asc

gpg --import ThomasV.asc

3. Download the Electrum AppImage.

Note: At the time of writing, electrum-4.1.5 was the latest stable release. Before starting the Electrum download, browse to electrum.org/#download ^[archive] to verify the correct file path. Then download the file with scurl. ^[3]

scurl-download https://download.electrum.org/4.1.5/electrum-4.1.5-x86_64.AppImage

scurl-download https://download.electrum.org/4.1.5/electrum-4.1.5-x86_64.AppImage

5. Check the Electrum AppImage is not corrupted after download. ^[4]

To check the Electrum AppImage, run.

file electrum*.AppImage

file electrum*.AppImage

The following output indicates a corrupted and/or non-existent AppImage file.

electrum-4.1.5-x86_64.AppImage: HTML document, ASCII text, with very long lines

In that case, delete the file and try downloading the AppImage again.

6. Download the corresponding gpg signature.

It is necessary to verify the integrity of the AppImage with the correct signature.

Note: If users downloaded a later Electrum version at step 4, then modify the following command to match the corresponding signature file. ^[5]

scurl-download https://download.electrum.org/4.1.5/electrum-4.1.5-x86_64.AppImage.ThomasV.asc

scurl-download https://download.electrum.org/4.1.5/electrum-4.1.5-x86_64.AppImage.ThomasV.asc

7. Verify the integrity of the AppImage image.

Note: This command must be run in the same directory as the downloaded AppImage and signature.

gpg --verify electrum-4.1.5-x86_64.AppImage.ThomasV.asc electrum-4.1.5-x86_64.AppImage

gpg --verify electrum-4.1.5-x86_64.AppImage.ThomasV.asc electrum-4.1.5-x86_64.AppImage

If the file is verified successfully, the output will include Good signature.

Figure: Good Signature ^[6]

gpg: WARNING: This key is not certified with a trusted signature!
gpg:          There is no indication that the signature belongs to the owner.

The above "gpg: WARNING" can be ignored since it does not alter the validity of the signature related to the downloaded key. Rather, this warning refers to the level of trust placed in the developers signing key and the web of trust. To remove this warning, the developers signing key must be personally signed with your own key.

If the following "gpg: BAD signature" message appears, the AppImage has been corrupted or altered during the download process.

Figure: Bad Signature

In this event, delete both the AppImage and signature and either wait 10-15 minutes for the Tor circuits to change, or open up the Nyx Tor Controller in Whonix-Gateway ™ (Qubes-Whonix ™: sys-whonix) and type "n" to create new Tor circuits. Wait for a random period of time before repeating the steps to download the AppImage and signature.

8. Change file permissions.

Make the electrum AppImage executable.

chmod +x electrum-4.1.5-x86_64.AppImage

chmod +x electrum-4.1.5-x86_64.AppImage

Start Electrum[edit]

Users should create a wallet with a strong password!

Please refer to the official Documentation at docs.electrum.org ^[archive] for comprehensive instructions, as well as more advanced topics like Cold Storage ^[archive] of private keys.

To start Electrum on all platforms, run.

./electrum-4.1.5-x86_64.AppImage

./electrum-4.1.5-x86_64.AppImage

Qubes-Whonix ™ users are recommended to configure a Split Bitcoin Wallet ^[archive] to better protect their private keys. To protect against identity correlation through Tor circuit sharing, follow the instructions below (see Stream Isolation for more information).

Electrum: First Run[edit]

These steps enable Stream Isolation for the Electrum application.

1. Configure a manual server connection.

When Electrum is started for the first time, users are met with the prompt: "How do you want to connect to a server?".

Choose Select server manually and press Next.

Figure: Server Setting

2. Change the proxy settings.

The necessary settings are:

Proxy: SOCKS5
Host: 10.152.152.10
Port: 9111

Press Next and the application should be fully functional.

Figure: SOCKS5 Proxy Configuration

Note: If Electrum is already set up but stream isolation was not enabled, then navigate to Tools → Network in Electrum to bring up the server and proxy settings.

Add Application Launcher to Start Menu[edit]

This step is optional.

1. Create folder ~/.local/share/applications.

mkdir -p ~/.local/share/applications

mkdir -p ~/.local/share/applications

2. Create a new file ~/.local/share/applications/electrum.desktop using an editor.

mousepad ~/.local/share/applications/electrum.desktop

mousepad ~/.local/share/applications/electrum.desktop

3. Paste the following contents.

[Desktop Entry]
Type=Application
Exec=/home/user/electrum-4.1.5-x86_64.AppImage
Name=electrum
Categories=Other

[Desktop Entry]
Type=Application
Exec=/home/user/electrum-4.1.5-x86_64.AppImage
Name=electrum
Categories=Other

4. Save the file.

The procedure is now complete.

The launcher can be found here:

Start Menu → Other → electrum

Donations[edit]

After installing Electrum, please consider making a donation to Whonix ™ to keep it running for years to come.

Donate Bitcoin (BTC) to Whonix ™.

35wdTVzyYGzRd7W2Wb2dunw3v5Am14sxPX

Footnotes[edit]

↑ https://github.com/spesmilo/electrum/issues/4789 ^[archive]
↑ Minor changes in the output such as new uids (email addresses) or newer expiration dates are inconsequential.
↑ To find the correct image download: "Right-click" AppImage → "Select" Copy Link Location → Append to scurl command.
↑ Due to recent DDoS attacks.
↑ To find the correct signature file download: "Right-click" signature → "Select" Copy Link Location → "Append" to scurl command

↑

gpg: Signature made Mon 19 Jul 2021 02:22:33 PM EDT
gpg:                using RSA key 6694D8DE7BE8EE5631BED9502BD5824B7F9470E6
gpg: Good signature from "Thomas Voegtlin (https://electrum.org) <thomasv@electrum.org>" [unknown]
gpg:                 aka "ThomasV <thomasv1@gmx.de>" [unknown]
gpg:                 aka "Thomas Voegtlin <thomasv1@gmx.de>" [unknown]
gpg: WARNING: This key is not certified with a trusted signature!
gpg:          There is no indication that the signature belongs to the owner.
Primary key fingerprint: 6694 D8DE 7BE8 EE56 31BE  D950 2BD5 824B 7F94 70E6

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