Can't Change Coin Type in Electrum?

[BigRye95]

I can only see that BTC is available to trade/exchange with. I thought previous versions before the update would allow to switch to bitcoin cash or some other coins. Now, after playing around in there, I don't see any options available other than it being locked into BTC.

If this is the case, then what is the best wallet to get out there for Windows OP? Or, am I missing something and you can change the coin type? If you can, please help!

[seoincorporation]

Electrum is a bicoin wallet, if you want to claim other forks of bitcoin you will need their own wallets... here is a guide about how to claim you bitcoin forks. And remember, you should have coins on the address when the fork happens, if the balance was zero at that moment then you will not get coins from it.

https://99bitcoins.com/bitcoin-forks/

[DooMAD]

I thought previous versions before the update would allow to switch to bitcoin cash or some other coins.

You weren't using an official version, then.  Be careful with what you install, as some wallets that pose as genuine Electrum wallets are actually malicious.  Don't lose valuable BTC while playing with cheap knock-offs.

[OmegaStarScream]

-snip-
If this is the case, then what is the best wallet to get out there for Windows OP? Or, am I missing something and you can change the coin type? If you can, please help!

Electrum is a perfect choice for bitcoin. You cannot switch to other coins (this was never possible) but there are some wallets that were forked from Electrum and which support some other coins. Like Electron cash for BCH, electrum-LTC for Litecoin, etc.

[BigRye95]

Suggestions for getting a wallet for BTC cash, Ethereum, Litecoin, or Ripple?

Thanks for the info. On the learn here.

[Krislaw]

Suggestions for getting a wallet for BTC cash, Ethereum, Litecoin, or Ripple?

Thanks for the info. On the learn here.

Exodus wallet is handy here. You can download from the official website https://www.exodus.io/ , it's available for windows. And if you want something more secure incase of big funds, use hardware wallet like Ledger Nano S

[HCP]

If you insist on using a multicurrency wallet, then Exodus or Coinomi... although both have been plagued with issues (and in some instances still suffer from these issues) in the past (from lack of custom fees leading to outrageous transaction fees, to sending plaintext seed mnemonic data to Google servers, to storing unencrypted wallet data on disk etc), and they're only partially open-sourced if at all.

You're usually better off using a currency specific wallet...

[pooya87]

If you insist on using a multicurrency wallet, then Exodus or Coinomi... although both have been plagued with issues (and in some instances still suffer from these issues) in the past (from lack of custom fees leading to outrageous transaction fees, to sending plaintext seed mnemonic data to Google servers, to storing unencrypted wallet data on disk etc), and they're only partially open-sourced if at all.

You're usually better off using a currency specific wallet...

they are both closed source software and the issues you mentioned here are their shadiness and indicate the huge risk that one takes if they use this types of wallets to store anything of value. i personally prefer storing any altcoin that i may have on an exchange instead of a closed source wallet specially since that way i can have the option to dump them fast when their dump begins.

[nc50lc]

Suggestions for getting a wallet for BTC cash, Ethereum, Litecoin, or Ripple?

Electron Cash for Bitcoin Cash: https://electroncash.org/
Electrum-ltc for Litecoin: https://electrum-ltc.org/

Both are Electrum's forks designed for those specific Altcoins.
Electrum-ltc has a familiar GUI but ElectronCash's is a bit different on some parts.

It's still best to use a hardware wallet that supports multicoin like 'Ledger' based from your use-case.
Supported coins/tokens: https://www.ledger.com/supported-crypto-assets

[bL4nkcode]

Suggestions for getting a wallet for BTC cash, Ethereum, Litecoin, or Ripple?

Thanks for the info. On the learn here.

While others suggest using different wallets I would suggest using an exchange such binance for altcoins, while its only good for smaller fund since you need to do their kyc when your holdings is equivalent or over 2btc. As for the wallet I suggest coinomi though its only desktop and mobile wallet.

[Csmiami]

I'm rather surprised to see that no one has yet suggested using a Hardware Wallet for multi-currency storage instead of different wallets or web based/exchanges. Even if you have to spend a little money (less than 100$ in most cases), they can store multiple crypto at the time, are way more secure than almost any other wallet configuration, and require no KYC.

[nc50lc]

I'm rather surprised to see that no one has yet suggested using a Hardware Wallet for multi-currency storage instead of different wallets or web based/exchanges.

Ehm~ehm, there's one. I just did two days ago 
If you missed my post, it's the number 9th post of this thread:

Suggestions for getting a wallet for BTC cash, Ethereum, Litecoin, or Ripple?

-snip-
It's still best to use a hardware wallet that supports multicoin like 'Ledger' based from your use-case.
Supported coins/tokens: https://www.ledger.com/supported-crypto-assets

[bob123]

Electrum is a perfect choice for bitcoin.

"Perfect" might be slightly exaggerated.
Electrum has huge problems with privacy which a perfect wallet shouldn't have.

While it definitely belongs to the better wallets, it by far is not perfect.

[NotATether]

Electrum is a perfect choice for bitcoin.

"Perfect" might be slightly exaggerated.
Electrum has huge problems with privacy which a perfect wallet shouldn't have.

While it definitely belongs to the better wallets, it by far is not perfect.

What privacy problems are you referring to? Do you mean the fact that Electrum connects to SPV nodes? Surely nodes can lie about the information they retrieve and then return false information to Electrum clients, but I think the the only information they can glean is the transaction history of an address(es) it’s querying, which it can then correlate with the IP address effectively getting a rough location from it, as most consumers are still using NAT IPV4 which rotates IP addresses in an address block.

But if there is another privacy risk in Electrum then please do tell me about it.


How do you create an SPV node anyway? The fact that it’s some open-source program you can run alongside loggers and network sniffers that capture personal information means there must be some instructions somewhere on how to set one up.

[bob123]

What privacy problems are you referring to? Do you mean the fact that Electrum connects to SPV nodes? Surely nodes can lie about the information they retrieve and then return false information to Electrum clients, but I think the the only information they can glean is the transaction history of an address(es) it’s querying, which it can then correlate with the IP address effectively getting a rough location from it, as most consumers are still using NAT IPV4 which rotates IP addresses in an address block.

The electrum server can obtain tons of useful information about the clients and correlate them with other source of information.
The information a server gets include:

• Addresses
• Transactions
• Time the user mostly is active
• Geo-location

This alone already is more information than necessary.
And even when sitting behind a NAT, it is still possible to locate you within a few kilometers (~10-20) radius.

[pooya87]

• Addresses
• Transactions
• Time the user mostly is active
• Geo-location

there is nothing to be done about the first two since that is the design of Electrum protocol.
but the third one is not an issue unless user always connects to the same (single) node, otherwise if they connect to randomly selected nodes each time, this won't be an issue.
the last one is also easily mitigated by running Electrum through Tor since there are multiple Electrum Tor nodes to use.

How do you create an SPV node anyway? The fact that it’s some open-source program you can run alongside loggers and network sniffers that capture personal information means there must be some instructions somewhere on how to set one up.

i am curious about this myself too.
but i suppose a better solution is using advanced bloom filters/.

[HCP]

What privacy problems are you referring to? Do you mean the fact that Electrum connects to SPV nodes?
How do you create an SPV node anyway? The fact that it’s some open-source program you can run alongside loggers and network sniffers that capture personal information means there must be some instructions somewhere on how to set one up.

Not sure I agree with the usage of the term "SPV Nodes"... Electrum clients connect to Electrum servers (using what I believe is an Electrum specific protocol). These servers, at the very basic level, are usually a combination of "Full Node Software" + "Electrum Server Software". For instance, Bitcoin Core + ElectrumX... So, I'm not sure I understand the question?

Are you wanting to know how to setup an Electrum server? or are you wanting to know how to setup an Electrum server that collates other users personal information?

[Pmalek]

While others suggest using different wallets I would suggest using an exchange such binance for altcoins, while its only good for smaller fund since you need to do their kyc when your holdings is equivalent or over 2btc.

I thought that you need to do KYC on Binance only if your want to withdraw +2 BTC in a 24-hour period. But it doesn't affect what and how much you deposit or hold at the exchange. Or is my understanding wrong here? Whatever the case, I agree with you that if you absolutely must trust an exchange to hold smaller amounts of your money, do so with one who has performed well, even when hacking incidents happened. 

As for the wallet I suggest coinomi though its only desktop and mobile wallet.

The desktop version of Coinomi did have that issue where the seed phrase of that one user was sent over Google servers for verification purposes, but other than that, I can't remember other significant user complaints in connection with Coinomi. 

[pooya87]

As for the wallet I suggest coinomi though its only desktop and mobile wallet.

The desktop version of Coinomi did have that issue where the seed phrase of that one user was sent over Google servers for verification purposes, but other than that, I can't remember other significant user complaints in connection with Coinomi. 

the problem with closed source wallets that have done something malicious in the past is that you have no way of knowing if they are still doing anything more malicious when you use them. they may still be sending your seed to their servers but encrypted so it can't be sniffed. that's just one of many things they could do.

[NotATether]

Are you wanting to know how to setup an Electrum server? or are you wanting to know how to setup an Electrum server that collates other users personal information?

Obviously just a plain Electrum server, supports the network that way  It seems that I have to use ElectrumX for that. Since it needs latest versions of Python and database stuff and I don't want to do a system-wide install for those, I'll just use its Docker image.

Not sure I agree with the usage of the term "SPV Nodes"... Electrum clients connect to Electrum servers (using what I believe is an Electrum specific protocol). These servers, at the very basic level, are usually a combination of "Full Node Software" + "Electrum Server Software". For instance, Bitcoin Core + ElectrumX... So, I'm not sure I understand the question?

Does this mean that any installation of ElectrumX also has to have Bitcoin Core on the same machine in order to make an Electrum server? I want to be able to give it my full node's IP address.