README.md (15056B)
1 # Electrum Personal Server 2 3 Electrum Personal Server aims to make using Electrum bitcoin wallet more secure 4 and more private. It makes it easy to connect your Electrum wallet to your own 5 full node. 6 7 [Full node](https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Full_node) wallets are important in 8 bitcoin because they are a big part of what makes the system trustless. No 9 longer do people have to trust a financial institution like a bank or Paypal, 10 they can run software on their own computers. If bitcoin is digital gold, then 11 a full node wallet is your own personal goldsmith who checks for you that 12 received payments are genuine. 13 14 Full node wallets are also important for privacy. Using Electrum under default 15 configuration requires it to send (hashes of) all your bitcoin addresses to some 16 server. That server can then easily spy on your transactions. Full node 17 wallets like Electrum Personal Server would download the entire blockchain and 18 scan it for the user's own addresses, and therefore don't reveal to anyone else 19 which bitcoin addresses they are interested in. 20 21 ## Contents 22 23 - [Features](#features) 24 - [Detailed how-to guide](#how-to) 25 - [Quick start for Debian/Ubuntu](#quick-start-on-a-debianubuntu-machine-with-a-running-bitcoin-full-node) 26 - [Links to other setup guides](#links-to-other-setup-guides) 27 - [How to expose the server to the internet](#exposure-to-the-internet) 28 - [How is this different from other Electrum servers ?](#how-is-this-different-from-other-electrum-servers-) 29 - [Articles, Discussion and Talks](#articles-discussion-and-talks) 30 - [Contributing](#contributing) 31 32 ### Features 33 34 - Fully-featured Electrum server for a single user. Combine full node security 35 and privacy with all of Electrum's feature-richness: (Hardware wallet 36 integration, [Multisignature wallets](http://docs.electrum.org/en/latest/multisig.html), 37 [Offline signing](http://docs.electrum.org/en/latest/coldstorage.html), 38 [Seed recovery phrases](https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Seed_phrase), Coin control, 39 Fee-bumping) 40 - Maximally lightweight. Very low CPU, RAM and disk space requirements. Only a 41 full node required. 42 - Compatible with all Bitcoin Core resource-saving features: 43 - [Pruning](https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/blob/master/doc/release-notes/release-notes-0.12.0.md#wallet-pruning) 44 - [Blocksonly](https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1377345.0) 45 - Disabled txindex 46 - Scriptable transaction broadcasting. When the user click "Send" the server 47 can be configured to run a system call with the new transaction: 48 - Broadcast transactions through Tor, for [resisting traffic analysis](https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Privacy#Tor_and_tor_broadcasting). 49 - By writing a shell script (eg. `send-tx-over-sms.sh`) the server can 50 broadcast transactions via SMS, radio or any other creative way. 51 52 ## How To 53 54 - If you dont already have them, download and install Bitcoin Core version 0.17 55 or higher. Make sure you 56 [verify the digital signatures](https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/50185/how-to-verify-bitcoin-core-release-signing-keys) 57 of any binaries before running them, or compile from source. The Bitcoin node 58 must have wallet functionality enabled, and must have the RPC server switched on (`server=1` 59 in bitcoin.conf). Create a wallet dedicated to Electrum Personal Server by adding 60 `wallet=electrumpersonalserver` to the bitcoin.conf file. 61 62 - If you dont already have it, download and install 63 [Electrum bitcoin wallet](https://electrum.org/), and set up your Electrum 64 wallet (for example by linking your hardware wallet). To avoid damaging 65 privacy by connecting to public Electrum servers, disconnect from the 66 internet first or run Electrum with the command line argument 67 `--server localhost:50002:s`. To avoid accidentally connecting to public 68 electrum servers, also use the command line argument `--offline`. 69 70 - Download the [latest release](https://github.com/chris-belcher/electrum-personal-server/releases) 71 of Electrum Personal Server. If using Windows OS take the packaged binary 72 release build `electrumpersonalserver-windows-release-XXX.zip`. 73 74 - Extract and enter the directory, and copy the file `config.ini_sample` to 75 `config.ini`. Edit the file `config.ini` to configure everything about the 76 server. Add your wallet master public keys or watch-only addresses to the 77 `[master-public-keys]` and `[watch-only-addresses]` sections. Master public 78 keys for an Electrum wallet (which start with xpub/ypub/zpub/etc) can be found 79 in the Electrum client menu `Wallet` -> `Information`. You can add multiple 80 master public keys or watch-only addresses by adding separate lines for the 81 different keys/addresses: 82 83 wallet1 = xpub661MyMwAqRbcF... 84 wallet2 = xpub7712KLsfsg46G... 85 86 - If you created a wallet dedicated to Electrum Personal Server in Bitcoin Core, 87 you have to modify the line `wallet_filename` in the `[bitcoin-rpc]` section 88 with the name of the wallet, for example `wallet_filename = electrumpersonalserver`. 89 90 - If using the windows packaged binary release, drag the file `config.ini` onto 91 the file `electrum-personal-server.exe` to run the server, or on the command 92 line run `electrum-personal-server config.ini`. 93 94 - If installing from the source release, install Electrum Personal Server in 95 your home directory with `pip3 install --user .`. On Linux the script 96 `electrum-personal-server` will be installed in `~/.local/bin`. Please note, 97 if for some reason, you want to make a system-wide install, simply run 98 `pip3 install .` as root (e.g. if you have `sudo` setup, you could use: 99 `sudo pip3 install .`). Run `electrum-personal-server /path/to/config.ini` 100 to start Electrum Personal Server. 101 102 - The first time the server is run it will import all configured addresses as 103 watch-only into the Bitcoin node, and then exit. 104 If the wallets contain historical transactions you can use the rescan script 105 (`electrum-personal-server --rescan /path/to/config.ini`) to make them appear. 106 If using the windows packaged binary release build then drag the file 107 `config.ini` onto the file `electrum-personal-server-rescan.bat`. 108 109 - Run the server again which will start Electrum Personal Server. Wait until 110 the message `Listening for Electrum Wallet ...` appears and then tell 111 Electrum to connect to the server in `Tools` -> `Server`. By default the 112 server details are `localhost` if running on the same machine. Make sure the 113 port number matches what is written in `config.ini` (port 50002 by default). 114 115 Pro Tip: run Electrum wallet with the command line arguments `--oneserver --server localhost:50002:s`. 116 This stops Electrum connecting to other servers to obtain block 117 headers; and locks Electrum to connect only to your server, disabling the GUI 118 button to stop accidental connections. This helps avoid a user accidentally 119 ruining their privacy by connecting to public Electrum servers. Another way 120 to do this is to open Electrum's config file and edit the lines to 121 `oneserver=true`. 122 123 Pro Tip2: run tor on the same machine as Electrum Personal Server. Then by 124 default transactions will be broadcast through tor. If running tor, also set 125 `walletbroadcast=0` in your `bitcoin.conf`. This prevents the node from 126 rebroadcasting transactions without tor. 127 128 ### Quick start on a Debian/Ubuntu machine with a running Bitcoin full node 129 130 1. Download the [latest release](https://github.com/chris-belcher/electrum-personal-server/releases) 131 of Electrum Personal Server. (Not the Windows version, the "Source code" zip or 132 tar.gz.) 133 1. Extract the compressed file 134 1. Enter the directory 135 1. `cp config.ini_sample config.ini` 136 1. Edit the config.ini file: 137 1. Add bitcoind back-end RPC auth information 138 1. Add wallet master public keys for your wallets 139 1. Install the server to your home directory with `pip3 install --user .` 140 1. Make sure `~/.local/bin` is in your \$PATH (`echo $PATH`). If not, add it: 141 `echo 'PATH=$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH' >> ~/.profile`, logout, and log in again 142 1. Run the server: `electrum-personal-server config.ini` 143 1. Rescan if needed: `electrum-personal-server --rescan config.ini` 144 1. Restart the server if needed 145 1. Start your Electrum wallet: `electrum --oneserver --server localhost:50002:s`. 146 147 ### Links to other setup guides 148 149 - [How to setup Electrum Personal Server on a Raspberry Pi](https://github.com/Stadicus/RaspiBolt/blob/master/raspibolt_64_electrum.md) 150 - [Electrum Personal Server on Windows 10](https://driftwoodpalace.github.io/Hodl-Guide/hodl-guide_63_eps-win.html) 151 - [Running Electrum Personal Server on Mac OS](https://driftwoodpalace.github.io/Hodl-Guide/hodl-guide_64_eps-mac.html) 152 - [How to set up your own Bitcoin node, Electrum wallet and Server](https://curiosityoverflow.xyz/posts/bitcoin-electrum-wallet/) 153 - [How to set up Wireguard to connect to EPS](https://curiosityoverflow.xyz/posts/wireguard-eps/) 154 - [Linux setup video tutorial on youtube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JMP4NZCC5g) 155 - [BTCPay Server integration with Electrum Personal Server](https://docs.btcpayserver.org/ElectrumPersonalServer/) 156 - [Using Electrum Personal Server with a Bitseed node](https://github.com/john-light/bitcoin/blob/master/eps.md) 157 - [Spanish language video tutorial / Instalación del servidor Electrum Personal Server](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3idwecYvcU) 158 - [Japanese language setup guide](https://freefromjp.wordpress.com/2019/07/13/electrum-personal-server-%E3%81%AE%E3%82%A4%E3%83%B3%E3%82%B9%E3%83%88%E3%83%BC%E3%83%AB/) 159 - [Connect to Electrum Personal Server via Wireguard ](https://curiosityoverflow.xyz/posts/wireguard-eps/#connecting-to-electrum-personal-server) 160 161 #### Exposure to the Internet 162 163 Right now, Electrum Personal Server is easiest to use when it, your full node 164 and your Electrum wallet are all on the same computer. 165 166 Other people should not be connecting to your server. They won't be 167 able to synchronize their wallet, and they could potentially learn all your 168 wallet transactions. By default the server will accept connections only from 169 `localhost`, though this can be changed in the configuration file. 170 171 The whitelisting feature can be used accept only certain IP addresses ranges 172 connecting to the server. The Electrum protocol uses SSL for encryption. If 173 your wallet connects over the public internet you should generate your own 174 SSL certificate instead of using the default one, otherwise your connection 175 can be decrypted. See the configuration file for instruction on how to do 176 this. 177 178 Another option is to use a SSH tunnel to reach Electrum Personal Server. SSH 179 connections are encrypted and authenticated. This can be done on the command 180 line with: `ssh username@host -L 50002:localhost:50002` or with [Putty](https://www.putty.org/) 181 for Windows. Then connect Electrum to localhost, and SSH will forward that 182 connection to the server. 183 184 ##### Number of connections 185 186 Right now Electrum Personal Server can only accept one connection at a time. 187 188 ##### Lightning Network 189 190 Right now Electrum Personal Server does not support Lightning Network which 191 Electrum wallet 4.0 and above implements. 192 193 #### How is this different from other Electrum servers ? 194 195 They are different approaches with different tradeoffs. Electrum Personal 196 Server is compatible with pruning, blocksonly and txindex=0, uses less CPU and 197 RAM, is suitable for being used intermittently rather than needing to be 198 always-on, and doesn't require an index of every bitcoin address ever used. The 199 tradeoff is when recovering an old wallet, you must import your wallet first 200 and you may need to rescan, so it loses the "instant on" feature of Electrum 201 wallet. Other Electrum server implementations will be able to sync your wallet 202 immediately even if you have historical transactions, and they can serve 203 multiple Electrum connections at once. 204 205 Traditional Electrum servers inherently are not very scalable and use many 206 resources which push people towards using centralized solutions. This is what 207 we'd like to avoid with Electrum Personal Server. 208 209 Definitely check out other implementations: 210 - [ElectrumX](https://github.com/spesmilo/electrumx) - Full Electrum server maintained by the Electrum project 211 - [Electrs](https://github.com/romanz/electrs) - Full Electrum server coded in rust 212 - [Bitcoin Wallet Tracker](https://github.com/bwt-dev/bwt) - Wallet indexer coded in rust 213 - [Obelisk](https://github.com/parazyd/obelisk) - Minimal Electrum server using zeromq and libbitcoin as backend 214 215 #### Further ideas for work 216 217 - Allowing connections from more than one Electrum instance at a time. See issue 218 [#50](https://github.com/chris-belcher/electrum-personal-server/issues/50). First 219 the server code should be separated from the networking code. 220 - Fix mempool lock/CPU bottleneck issue. See issue [#96](https://github.com/chris-belcher/electrum-personal-server/issues/96). 221 - Research and develop an easier way of rescanning the wallet when blockchain 222 pruning is enabled. See issue [#85](https://github.com/chris-belcher/electrum-personal-server/issues/85). 223 - Developing some way for Electrum servers to authenticate clients, so that 224 Electrum Personal Server can accept connections from the entire internet but 225 without a fear of privacy loss. 226 - Dynamic adding of wallet master public keys. Perhaps by polling for changes 227 in the config file. 228 229 ## Contact 230 231 I can be contacted on freenode IRC on the `#bitcoin` and `#electrum` channels, 232 by email or on [twitter](https://twitter.com/chris_belcher_/). 233 234 My PGP key fingerprint is: `0A8B 038F 5E10 CC27 89BF CFFF EF73 4EA6 77F3 1129`. 235 236 ## Articles, Discussion and Talks 237 238 - [BitcoinMagazine.com article](https://bitcoinmagazine.com/articles/electrum-personal-server-will-give-users-full-node-security-they-need/) 239 - [Electrum Personal Server talk at London Bitcoin Developer Meetup](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKMXYdfm-is) 240 - Electrum Personal Server used as a building block for systems which use 241 bitcoin without internet access. See [here](https://twitter.com/notgrubles/status/1091011511961731073) 242 and [here](https://medium.com/hackernoon/completely-offline-bitcoin-transactions-4e58324637bd) 243 for information and setup guide. 244 - [Mailing list email](https://lists.linuxfoundation.org/pipermail/bitcoin-dev/2018-February/015707.html) 245 - [Bitcointalk thread](https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2664747.msg27179198) 246 - [Nasdaq article](https://www.nasdaq.com/article/the-electrum-personal-server-will-give-users-the-full-node-security-they-need-cm920443) 247 - [Bitcoinnews.ru article (russian)](https://bitcoinnews.ru/novosti/electrum-personal-server-uluchshennaya-versiya-/) 248 - [bits.media article (russian)](https://bits.media/razrabotchiki-electrum-opublikovali-alfa-versiyu-electrum-personal-server/) 249 250 ## Contributing 251 252 Donate to help improve Electrum Personal Server: `bc1qwt8kh83dpdj4yuquvsf28rhcft2rjh6jvy6678` or `15wAE63DG8RH6xp7nTucgYn1Jb4acR1EvM`. Signed donation addresses can be found [here](/docs/signed-donation-addresses.txt). 253 254 This is open source project which happily accepts coding contributions from 255 anyone. See [developer-notes.md](docs/developer-notes.md).