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[Symmetrick]

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[Charles-Tim]

Their is nothing worst than storing Bitcoin on exchanges, someone will not have full control, not your coin on blockchain, complete void of privacy, no privacy at all. Aside all these mentioned, if it is not someone's private key, it is not someone's coin. There are many newbies that often make one common but same frequent mistakes leading to complete loss of funds. I sent Bitcoin worth of $20 to my friend's exchange account's address, he sent it to Bitcoin cash address on on another exchange, he had done it before telling me, thinking he will receive Bitcoin. If he sent to noncustododial wallet, I would have told him he can recover back his coin, but the money lost, I am wondering many people that will be in same shoe line that of my friend today, but those that sent Bitcoin to a noncustodial wallet were able and will still be able to receiver back their Bitcoin. Many newbies are losing while not know the differences between ERC20 and BSC20 and exchanges support, but confused from the same address to make mistakes that can result to lost of funds. The exchanges are just making money also through such mistakes while users not having full control (private key) is the cause. The mistakes is amendable and can be corrected if someone is using reputed noncustododial wallet.

Electrum is a very perfect wallet, even for newbies. I am always surprised that Electrum is rated best Bitcoin wallet for advanced users only, it should also be rated for newbies as the best because it is actually the best SPV wallet that can be used. But, Bitcoin core is worth going for to have more privacy as it only connects nodes to nodes, but people can be discouraged from using it because of the full blockchain that is needed for it which will take a lot of memory space, but I still like to let people to know about it, including Wasabi wallet which can be helpful for those that want to CoinJoin. Later, I know about Samourai wallet which can be helpful for ricochet. Athough, I can be able to make use of only Electrum wallet for it with just low fee when the mempool is not congested by dividing and sending from one address to another until I am satisfied.

For newbies, Electrum wallet is great. It can be downloaded from https://electrum.org, also verify its signature. For safe download and signature verification, this guide will be helpful: [GUIDE] How to Safely Download and Verify Electrum [Guide]

[BIT-BENDER]

Also -Newbies- may be unfamiliar with the risk and safety of exchange wallet and private wallet respectively, and when they read this may panic and search how they can be safe by transferring from and exchange to a their wallet like electrum when they have installed and created one.
But while -Newbies- do that, they may ask for assistance so I would alert newbies not to go in social media like youtube or physically, and give someone their exchange details so the person can help them transfer their coins to a wallet, or tell any one to create a wallet for them, I have seen this questions on replies to you tube videos. Ask your questions, also examples, then do the sensitive aspect yourself.

[tranthidung]

NOT YOUR KEYS - NOT YOUR COINS.

Let me share some resources to reminder people about it.  

• https://notyourkeys.org/
• https://cryptosec.info/exchange-hacks/
• https://www.cryptowisser.com/exchange-graveyard/
• Hacked Exchanges since 2011

[The Cryptovator]

Thanks for sharing all the information about the Electrum wallet. To be honest, before joining this forum I wasn't aware of any non-custodial wallet. How will aware since I wasn't familiar with the custodial or non-custodial wallet. I thought there is only a Bitcoin wallet like Blockchain, Coinbase & Coinpayment. My eye opened after joined the forum during reading many threads about Bitcoin wallets. So, this post would very helpful for newbies like me. It's quite important to avoid custodial wallets to avoid much harassment. Just need to make sure downloading source is original and secure credentials.

[bL4nkcode]

But while -Newbies- do that, they may ask for assistance so I would alert newbies not to go in social media like youtube or physically, and give someone their exchange details so the person can help them transfer their coins to a wallet, or tell any one to create a wallet for them, I have seen this questions on replies to you tube videos. Ask your questions, also examples, then do the sensitive aspect yourself.

Welp, not all newbies comes here so that's really happening, most people only knows facebook, youtube, insta, and others, most of them don't even know reddit how much more this forum. And that's concerning, newbies only come here asking questions after having an issue similar to losing access to their wallets, lost of funds on their wallet and they'll know it's already too late, web wallet board is the witness of it.

[WePiggy]

Equally important is not to install any updates based on a popup supposedly from the electrum wallet. Always check the main website to see if the updates are genuine, otherwise it could be a malicious attempt to steal your coins. Here is what happened a few years back when users installed a fake update from Electrum: 

The fake updates, which are prompted by popup messages, trick users into installing malware onto their computers. Users have reported that their funds were stolen immediately upon downloading the file.

https://www.theblockcrypto.com/linked/80567/criminals-steal-22-million-through-electrum-phishing-updates

[Kontibruno]

This is the first time I am reading about the electrum wallet. Thanks for sharing the information, it was quite enlightening. I have a mentor who also gave me this same advice of how it is not wise to leave all my bitcoin in exchange. But the wallets I have for now are Trustwallet and Imtoken.

[hosseinimr93]

But the wallets I have for now are Trustwallet and Imtoken.

If you compare an exchange with trustwallet, there is no doubt trustwallet is a better option.
But it's not recommended to hold big amounts on wallets like trustwallet.
Trustwallet is a noncustodial wallet, gives the seed phrase and you have full control over your money. But the downside is that it's close source and you don't know whether your seed phrase is stored in their server or not. In trustwallet, there is no way to sign a transaction offline and your keys have to touch the internet when you make a transaction.

There are two big advantages for electrum when it's compared with a wallet like trustwallet.
1. It's open source.
2. It allows you to sign the transaction offline and you can use an online device only for broadcasting the transaction.

[Findingnemo]

^ Electrum also available in the smartphone platforms so like other wallets, user can access their funds from Android itself.
I advise every newbie to use Electrum as well of they are holding funds worth whic is less than 10K but for larger amounts then its certainly better to go for hardware wallet which gives more security and multiple coin support.

[sheenshane]

It's a good resource and now bookmarked this for future reference, thanks for this informative thread.

We have also topics and discussions here regarding Electrum wallet, AFAIK, there's a compilation thread of all Electrum wallet topics but I can't find that thread now.

^ Electrum also available in the smartphone platforms so like other wallets, user can access their funds from Android itself.

It's safer if you will use your desktop app version, not on the mobile app, you can find a good feature in a desktop app than the mobile, and also I have heard that using Electrum mobile app is vulnerable to hacks.

It's been years using this Electrum wallet and I always feel secure even storing a big amount of Bitcoin.

[hosseinimr93]

.........and also I have heard that using Electrum mobile app is vulnerable to hacks.

Whether you use the mobile version or the desktop version, your wallet is at the risk of getting hacked if you keep your private keys on a device which is connected to the internet.

If you want your wallet to be 100% secure, you must create the wallet on an airgapped device, sign the transaction on an airgapped device and use an online device only for broadcasting the transaction and checking your balance and transaction. It doesn't matter whether it's a mobile wallet or a desktop wallet.

[Findingnemo]

It's a good resource and now bookmarked this for future reference, thanks for this informative thread.

We have also topics and discussions here regarding Electrum wallet, AFAIK, there's a compilation thread of all Electrum wallet topics but I can't find that thread now.

^ Electrum also available in the smartphone platforms so like other wallets, user can access their funds from Android itself.

It's safer if you will use your desktop app version, not on the mobile app, you can find a good feature in a desktop app than the mobile, and also I have heard that using Electrum mobile app is vulnerable to hacks.

It's been years using this Electrum wallet and I always feel secure even storing a big amount of Bitcoin.

Mobiles are prone to hacks but desktop is not having minimal risk comparatively so both device is same if you keep your device malware free and as the above post suggested using Electrum via air gapped wallet is secured much or similar to hardware wallet in my opinion.

[nakamura12]

The difference between electrum on mobile phone vs the electrum desktop is that electrum on mobile phone doesn't have all the features on the desktop version so, newbies wanted to sign a message with their wallet address is not possible and must used the desktop version to do that. This should be added to notify newbies about it. I think newbies doesn't care much about signing an address unless joining on Ognasty's thread about getting merit when you sign a message correctly.

[khaled0111]

bitcoinelectrum.com is the first website I visit whenever I need any information regatding Electrum. Even electrum.org links to it and suggest it as unofficial guide]. Electrum's official documentation is hosted on readthedocs here.
What I like the most about bitcoinelectrum, other than the detailed guides, is how active the admin is in answering questions. It's indeed the best resource for both newbies and advanced users.

I believe the user Abdussamad is the owner of bitcoinelectrum.com

[Charles-Tim]

Mobiles are prone to hacks but desktop is not having minimal risk comparatively so both device is same if you keep your device malware free and as the above post suggested using Electrum via air gapped wallet is secured much or similar to hardware wallet in my opinion.

Desktop and mobile are truely not resistant to malware, both can be affect. But, people using mobile phones to browse these days, for downloading pirated contents and many of such use that can lead to malware download are common, the first to be in mind is online safety. Mobile wallet will be becoming more frequently attack because of this. Some people will also easily lose their phone if compared to computer, well people should backup their seed phrase offline. I get your point and it is valid, for best protection, going for offline wallet is the best choice to follow which can be achievable on both mobile and desktop airgapped electrum.

[ABCbits]

I believe the user Abdussamad is the owner of bitcoinelectrum.com

Correct, it's mentioned on website's about page (https://bitcoinelectrum.com/about/).