Bitcoin Forum

Bitcoin => Electrum => Topic started by: GODLIKE on August 03, 2015, 06:16:44 AM



Title: About Electrum servers
Post by: GODLIKE on August 03, 2015, 06:16:44 AM
Some questions on Electrum servers.

Who manages them?
Who funds them?
Can I set one up?
How can users trust they won't come down ever?
Would I lose all my funds if the Electrum servers were dismissed?
What if only some 10 servers remain?
Would I be able to recover my funds in that case?

I see that COINOMI uses "Electrum server software": does this mean they use the Electrum servers or only the software and the nodes are COINOMI only?


Title: Re: About Electrum servers
Post by: shorena on August 03, 2015, 07:57:20 AM
Some questions on Electrum servers.

Who manages them?

Anyone that wants to.

Who funds them?

The person running it/them.

Can I set one up?

Yes, well you are allowed to, I guess that was the question.

How can users trust they won't come down ever?

Set your own up.

Would I lose all my funds if the Electrum servers were dismissed?

No, you could still export the private keys into a different wallet.

What if only some 10 servers remain?

You only need one, but there might be issues regarding privacy.

Would I be able to recover my funds in that case?

In the case of "only" 10 servers? Yes.

I see that COINOMI uses "Electrum server software": does this mean they use the Electrum servers or only the software and the nodes are COINOMI only?

I dont know.


Title: Re: About Electrum servers
Post by: GODLIKE on August 03, 2015, 08:02:31 AM
Thank you for your time, dude  :)

What do you mean by "No, you could still export the private keys into a different wallet."

I can use the seed to access my funds from another wallet?
There's this thing I can't understand: COINOMI doesn't offer the chance to make a backup of the wallet, or at least I can't find any option to do that.
Does this mean I can recovery my funds from within any wallet, when I use my seed when I make a new wallet?


Title: Re: About Electrum servers
Post by: shorena on August 03, 2015, 12:16:39 PM
Thank you for your time, dude  :)

What do you mean by "No, you could still export the private keys into a different wallet."

I can use the seed to access my funds from another wallet?

No, the seed used in electrum is specific for that software. There might be a wallet that uses the same kind of seeds in the future though. You can however use electrum to extract the actual used private keys in a format that is pretty much compatible with all other wallets (WIF wallet import format). The private key is what allows you to spend the coins and its not wallet specific.

There's this thing I can't understand: COINOMI doesn't offer the chance to make a backup of the wallet, or at least I can't find any option to do that.
Does this mean I can recovery my funds from within any wallet, when I use my seed when I make a new wallet?

It greatly depends on the seed used as I dont know that wallet I can not say much about it. The seed is just a very specific way to write a very large number, thus its important which words are used in which order. If one software is using 1000 words and the next 1001 the seeds do not result in the same number when calculated back and thus lead to different private keys.

There is a seed comparison somewhere, but I cant find it right now. IIRC most seeds are different between different wallets, even Electrum 1.9.8 uses a different seed than Electrum 2 versions. But you will always be able to restore the same wallet with the same software if you have the seed. You may however not be able to do so with a different wallet. As long as the wallet software is sufficiently documented it is still possible to write or use a custom tool to extract the private keys.


Title: Re: About Electrum servers
Post by: GODLIKE on August 03, 2015, 07:02:51 PM
Thank you for your time, dude  :)

What do you mean by "No, you could still export the private keys into a different wallet."

I can use the seed to access my funds from another wallet?

No, the seed used in electrum is specific for that software. There might be a wallet that uses the same kind of seeds in the future though. You can however use electrum to extract the actual used private keys in a format that is pretty much compatible with all other wallets (WIF wallet import format). The private key is what allows you to spend the coins and its not wallet specific.

There's this thing I can't understand: COINOMI doesn't offer the chance to make a backup of the wallet, or at least I can't find any option to do that.
Does this mean I can recovery my funds from within any wallet, when I use my seed when I make a new wallet?

It greatly depends on the seed used as I dont know that wallet I can not say much about it. The seed is just a very specific way to write a very large number, thus its important which words are used in which order. If one software is using 1000 words and the next 1001 the seeds do not result in the same number when calculated back and thus lead to different private keys.

There is a seed comparison somewhere, but I cant find it right now. IIRC most seeds are different between different wallets, even Electrum 1.9.8 uses a different seed than Electrum 2 versions. But you will always be able to restore the same wallet with the same software if you have the seed. You may however not be able to do so with a different wallet. As long as the wallet software is sufficiently documented it is still possible to write or use a custom tool to extract the private keys.

Thank you very much again for your time, man.
I couldn't find these info anywhere.