1 Electrum - lightweight Bitcoin client
4 Author: thomasv@gitorious
9 * Encrypted wallet: the file that contains your bitcoins is protected with a password. You are protected from thieves.
10 * Deterministic key generation: If you lose your wallet, you can recover it from its seed. You are protected from your own mistakes.
11 * No blockchain download: the client requests blockchain information from a server. No delays, always up-to-date.
12 * Transactions are signed locally: Your private keys are not shared with the server. You do not have to trust the server with your money.
13 * Privacy: The server does not know you, it does not store user accounts. You are not tied to a particular server.
14 * No single point of failure: The server code is open source, anyone can run a server.
15 * Firewall friendly: The client does not need to open a port, it simply polls the server for updates.
16 * Open Source: Anyone can audit the code.
17 * Python. Very compact code, easy to contribute.
22 If you use the source from git, you will need to install python-ecdsa and slowaes:
23 * sudo easy_install ecdsa
24 * sudo easy_install slowaes
25 These packages are included in the tar.gz and zip archives.
28 In order to use the gtk gui, you need pygtk and tk.
29 * apt-get install python-gtk2
30 * apt-get install python-tk
35 To start the Qt gui, type:
37 To use the Gtk gui, type:
38 python electrum --gui gtk
40 If arguments are passed to the command line, Electrum will run in text mode.
42 python electrum balance
49 the most up-to-date information is on the wiki:
50 https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Electrum
55 see http://ecdsa.org/bitcoin_URIs.html