electrum

Start Electrum GUI

$ electrum

$ electrum create

$ electrum getbalance

$ electrum listaddresses

$ electrum createnewaddress

$ electrum payto [address] [amount]

$ electrum daemon start

$ electrum load_wallet -w [path/to/wallet]

electrum [options] [command] [args]
electrum daemon [start|stop|status]
electrum [-w wallet] command

electrum is a lightweight Bitcoin wallet that connects to remote servers instead of downloading the entire blockchain. It supports both a graphical interface and command-line operations, making it suitable for desktop use and scripted automation.
The wallet uses hierarchical deterministic (HD) key generation from a mnemonic seed phrase, allowing full wallet recovery from the seed alone. It supports multi-signature wallets, hardware wallet integration (Trezor, Ledger), and watch-only wallets.
For command-line operations, the daemon can run in the background handling network communication while CLI commands interact with it. Some commands work offline without the daemon using the -o flag. The special argument ! means "maximum amount available" and - reads from stdin.

-w, --wallet PATH

Use wallet from specified path

Run in offline mode without network access

Select user interface (qt, text)

Set server address

Set proxy server

Show debugging information

Use portable wallet mode

Set default language for GUI

Use Bitcoin testnet

Use Bitcoin mainnet (default)

Show all addresses

Show help message and exit

Show program version

create

Create a new wallet

Restore wallet from seed

Display wallet balance

List all wallet addresses

Generate a new receiving address

Show transaction history for an address

Show wallet transaction history

Create and send a transaction

Broadcast a signed transaction

Sign a message with an address

Verify a signed message

List all available commands

Electrum connects to third-party servers that can see your addresses and transaction history, though they cannot access your funds. For maximum privacy, run your own Electrum server. The wallet file is encrypted by default but should be backed up securely. Hardware wallet integration requires additional packages.

Electrum was created by Thomas Voegtlin and first released in November 2011. It was one of the first lightweight Bitcoin wallets, pioneering the use of SPV (Simplified Payment Verification) with remote servers. The name comes from the Latin word for amber, chosen because amber produces static electricity when rubbed. Electrum introduced the concept of seed phrases for wallet backup, which became a standard across the cryptocurrency industry.

bitcoin-cli(1), trezorctl(1)