Bitcoin Core to Electrum 2018

[MrNando]

I wanna switch from Bitcoin Core to Electrum and I can't find new information on how to do that.

Considering that the "Import" function no longer exists on Electrum, I dumped the private key on Bitcoin Core from the address I received the BTC, then tried sweeping it into Electrum and got an error message. I created a new standard wallet on Electrum and cliked on Wallet>Private Keys>Sweept>Paste Address and Private Keys. Am I doing it all wrong? Should I use another address?

All I wanna do is avoid transaction fees. Is there a way to import the BTC from Bitcoin Core to Electrum without sending them to an address on Electrum?

I would really apreciate any feedback on this because that blockchain takes so much HDD space.

I don't know if its relevant but my Bitcoin Core wallet does not have the HD option activated on the bottom right corner of the window, from what I read it's because the .dat file was created before the HD wallet function was available on Bitcoin Core.

Thank you!

Edit 1: Second Paragraph. I meant "Sweep" not "Import"

Edit 2: Added 5th paragraph

[Ayanamirs]

Avoid transaction fees?

Recommend fees are now 1 sat/byte

https://coinb.in/#fees

[TryNinja]

Considering that the "Import" function no longer exists on Electrum.

It does exist. When creating your wallet, choose: 'Import Bitcoin addresses or private keys' -> Paste your list of private-keys -> 'Next'.

I dumped the private key on Bitcoin Core from the address I received the BTC, then tried sweeping it into Electrum and got an error message. I created a new standard wallet on Electrum and cliked on Wallet>Private Keys>Import>Paste Address and Private Keys. Am I doing it all wrong? Should I use another address?

Which error message? There is no "Import" option in Wallet -> Private-keys. Only "Sweep" (to send all coins from a specific address to your new Electrum wallet) and "Export".

All I wanna do is avoid transaction fees. Is there a way to import the BTC from Bitcoin Core to Electrum without sending them to an address on Electrum?

Yes. Read the above to import your private-keys.

[MrNando]

Avoid transaction fees?

Recommend fees are now 1 sat/byte

https://coinb.in/#fees

Thanks for replying! Great website.

Considering that the "Import" function no longer exists on Electrum.

It does exist. When creating your wallet, choose: 'Import Bitcoin addresses or private keys' -> Paste your list of private-keys -> 'Next'.

Thanks for your reply! That is the first thinig I did, that way it creates a watching-only wallet in which you cannot operate, only watch the transactions of the addresses you Import. I would like to use Electrum to operate.

I dumped the private key on Bitcoin Core from the address I received the BTC, then tried sweeping it into Electrum and got an error message. I created a new standard wallet on Electrum and cliked on Wallet>Private Keys>Import>Paste Address and Private Keys. Am I doing it all wrong? Should I use another address?

Which error message? There is no "Import" option in Wallet -> Private-keys. Only "Sweep" (to send all coins from a specific address to your new Electrum wallet) and "Export".

My bad! I actually meant Sweep not Import. When I tried doing that by pasting the address -and corresponding pvt key dumped from the Bitcoin Core console- from which I received my BTC, I got the "error" I mentioned in my post and it says "No inputs found. (Note that inputs need to be confirmed)." Is there a previous step I should be doing?

- I don't know if its relevant but my Bitcoin Core wallet does not have the HD option activated on the bottom right corner of the window, from what I read it's because the .dat file was created before the HD wallet function was available on Bitcoin Core.

[TryNinja]

Thanks for your reply! That is the first thinig I did, that way it creates a watching-only wallet in which you cannot operate, only watch the transactions of the addresses you Import. I would like to use Electrum to operate.

You get a watch-only address if you paste the Bitcoin address in this step. To be able to spend the coins, you need to import the private-keys (and not the address). Are you sure that you are importing the private-key? If the string is starting with a 1 or 3, it's a Bitcoin address.

You can follow this steps to export the private-keys from your Core wallet: https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/a/5933

My bad! I actually meant Sweep not Import. When I tried doing that by pasting the address -and corresponding pvt key dumped from the Bitcoin Core console- from which I received my BTC, I got the "error" I mentioned in my post and it says "No inputs found. (Note that inputs need to be confirmed)." Is there a previous step I should be doing?

This error means that there is no spendable coins in the address. So it should be empty. Do the above to see if what you got is really the private-key (and if the address is not empty).

[HCP]

Considering that the "Import" function no longer exists on Electrum.

It does exist. When creating your wallet, choose: 'Import Bitcoin addresses or private keys' -> Paste your list of private-keys -> 'Next'.

Thanks for your reply! That is the first thinig I did, that way it creates a watching-only wallet in which you cannot operate, only watch the transactions of the addresses you Import. I would like to use Electrum to operate.

Then you didn't dump or import private keys... you've attempted to import an address.

In Bitcoin Core, you need to use dumpprivkey (and/or dumpwallet) to be able to access your private keys... they will start with a "5", an "L" or a "K"... and look something like this:

5Kb8kLf9zgWQnogidDA76MzPL6TsZZY36hWXMssSzNydYXYB9KF
L53fCHmQhbNp1B4JipfBtfeHZH7cAibzG9oK19XfiFzxHgAkz6JK

I dumped the private key on Bitcoin Core from the address I received the BTC, then tried sweeping it into Electrum and got an error message. I created a new standard wallet on Electrum and cliked on Wallet>Private Keys>Import>Paste Address and Private Keys. Am I doing it all wrong? Should I use another address?

If you are getting an error saying that there are "No Inputs Founds", then you have dumped the private key for an empty address... the easiest way to find which addresses currently hold coins is to use the listunspent command in Bitcoin Core. It will give you a list of all the current UTXOs your wallet holds, and which addresses hold them.

You can then use dumpprivkey <addressFromListUnspent> to get the private key for each address show by listunspent... and then sweep those private keys.


If you want to do it without sweeping to avoid transaction fees... then use "File -> new\restore -> Import Bitcoin Address or Private Keys" in Electrum and put in the list of private keys (not addresses)

[MrNando]

Thanks to everyone who replied! I'm away from home right now so I will keep trying as soon as I get back!

[MrNando]

Considering that the "Import" function no longer exists on Electrum.

It does exist. When creating your wallet, choose: 'Import Bitcoin addresses or private keys' -> Paste your list of private-keys -> 'Next'.

Thanks for your reply! That is the first thinig I did, that way it creates a watching-only wallet in which you cannot operate, only watch the transactions of the addresses you Import. I would like to use Electrum to operate.

Then you didn't dump or import private keys... you've attempted to import an address.

In Bitcoin Core, you need to use dumpprivkey (and/or dumpwallet) to be able to access your private keys... they will start with a "5", an "L" or a "K"... and look something like this:

5Kb8kLf9zgWQnogidDA76MzPL6TsZZY36hWXMssSzNydYXYB9KF
L53fCHmQhbNp1B4JipfBtfeHZH7cAibzG9oK19XfiFzxHgAkz6JK

I dumped the private key on Bitcoin Core from the address I received the BTC, then tried sweeping it into Electrum and got an error message. I created a new standard wallet on Electrum and cliked on Wallet>Private Keys>Import>Paste Address and Private Keys. Am I doing it all wrong? Should I use another address?

If you are getting an error saying that there are "No Inputs Founds", then you have dumped the private key for an empty address... the easiest way to find which addresses currently hold coins is to use the listunspent command in Bitcoin Core. It will give you a list of all the current UTXOs your wallet holds, and which addresses hold them.

You can then use dumpprivkey <addressFromListUnspent> to get the private key for each address show by listunspent... and then sweep those private keys.


If you want to do it without sweeping to avoid transaction fees... then use "File -> new\restore -> Import Bitcoin Address or Private Keys" in Electrum and put in the list of private keys (not addresses)

Hello again and thank you for your reply! I've just imported the wallet to Electrum.

Is it OK that there is no seed option? You can't click on the Seed option.

I already created a password and saved a copy to a couple of flash drives. So if I format my drive, I just have to open the file, insert password and I should be ready to go? Is there another way to protect everything?

Is there anything else I should do or can I just delete Bitcoin Core? I could really use the space in my HDD.

[Ayanamirs]

Just create a brand new Electrum Wallet and transfer everything, the transaction fee is almost zero right now.

[ranochigo]

Is it OK that there is no seed option? You can't click on the Seed option.

It's okay. The seed option is just for HD wallets which can be used to restore from a set of seeds. They are generally easier to use and backup. Without that, you have to ensure that you keep your private keys safe or keep several backups of your wallet.

I already created a password and saved a copy to a couple of flash drives. So if I format my drive, I just have to open the file, insert password and I should be ready to go? Is there another way to protect everything?

You can import the wallet file into your Electrum and you're good to go. You would be prompted to create a new wallet and you can restore it by going to File>Open after creating a new wallet.

Is there anything else I should do or can I just delete Bitcoin Core? I could really use the space in my HDD.

I would really recommend you to keep a backup of your wallet.dat file regardless. You can delete everything in your data directory without issues, if you have backed up your wallet.dat.
I can't think of why you aren't choosing to just send everything to a new address covered by the seed. Your privacy is lesser with the imported keys since change address aren't used.

[bob123]

Hello again and thank you for your reply! I've just imported the wallet to Electrum.

You did not import your wallet into electrum.
You created a new electrum wallet and imported private keys from your core wallet.

Is it OK that there is no seed option? You can't click on the Seed option.

There is no seed option because you have imported private keys.
To use the option of a seed you have to create a new wallet and send your funds to your new wallet.

I already created a password and saved a copy to a couple of flash drives. So if I format my drive, I just have to open the file, insert password and I should be ready to go? Is there another way to protect everything?

Yes.
There are a lot more ways to protect your holdings.
You first have to know against what you want to be protected.

Is there anything else I should do or can I just delete Bitcoin Core? I could really use the space in my HDD.

You should create a new wallet and use the seed option. This makes backing up your coins way easier.
Transactoin fees can't go lower than they are nowadays.

If its only because of the space.. you can use prune mode. This way core does not store the whole blockchain.

If your backups are correct (you have tested them), you can safely remove core from your hard drive.