Electrum 4.3.0 Relased

[PX-Z]

New electrum version is released. This release is focused on improvement of Lightning UI and finally the support of the Blockstream Jade hardware wallet^[1].

# Release 4.3.0 - (August 5, 2022)

 * This version introduces a set of UI modifications that simplify the
   use of Lightning. The idea is to abstract payments from the payment
   layer, and to suggest solutions when a lightning payment is hindered
   by liquidity issues.
    - Invoice unification: on-chain and lightning invoices have been
      merged into a unique type of invoice, and the GUI has a single
      'create request' button. Unified invoices contain both a
      lightning invoice and an onchain fallback address.
    - The receive tab of the GUI can display, for each payment
      request, a lightning invoice, a BIP21 URI, or an onchain
      address. If the request is paid off-chain, the associated
      on-chain address will be recycled in subsequent requests.
    - The receive tab displays whether a payment can be received using
      Lightning, given the current channel liquidity. If a payment
      cannot be received, but may be received after a channel
      rebalance or a submarine swap, the GUI will propose such an
      operation.
    - Similarly, if channels do not have enough liquidity to pay a
      lightning invoice, the GUI will suggest available alternatives:
      rebalance existing channels, open a new channel, perform a
      submarine swap, or pay to the provided onchain fallback address.
    - A single balance is shown in the GUI. A pie chart reflects how
      that balance is distributed (on-chain, lightning, unconfirmed,
      frozen, etc).
    - The semantics of the wallet balance has been modified: only
      incoming transactions are considered in the 'unconfirmed' part
      of the balance. Indeed, if an outgoing transaction does not get
      mined, that is not going to decrease the wallet balance. Thus,
      change outputs of outgoing transactions are not subtracted from
      the confirmed balance. (Before this change, the arithmetic
      values of both incoming and outgoing transactions were added to
      the unconfirmed balance, and could potentially cancel
      each other.)

 * In addition, the following new features are worth noting:
    - support for the Blockstream Jade hardware wallet (#7633)
    - support for LNURL-pay (LUD-06) (#7839)
    - updated trampoline feature bit in invoices (#7801)
    - the claim transactions of reverse swaps are not broadcast until
      the parent transaction is confirmed. This can be overridden by
      manually broadcasting the local transaction.
    - the fee of submarine swap transactions can be bumped (#7724)
    - better error handling for trampoline payments, which should
      improve payment success rate (#7844)
    - channel backups are removed automatically when the corresponding
      channel is redeemed (#7513)

Although i just heard this new hardware wallet, it looks like neat but like a bulk remote to me. Lol
To those who keep collecting hardware wallets, making reviews, using the liquid network, i guess its must to try.

[1] https://blockstream.com/jade/

[nc50lc]

Although i just heard this new hardware wallet, it looks like neat but like a bulk remote to me. Lol

Judging from the size of the USB-C port at the bottom side of the HW as well as the 'dimensions' indicated in the "Technical Specifications", the form factor is small.
It looks bulky in the pictures since it's scaled with your monitor and it's hard to judge the size of a picture of an object without a reference.

[NotATether]

So no Taproot address support yet? Where is that in their release timetable? It shouldn't be too hard to implement since they can just adapt similar code from Bitcoin Core.

[nc50lc]

So no Taproot address support yet? Where is that in their release timetable? It shouldn't be too hard to implement since they can just adapt similar code from Bitcoin Core.

It's currently in the "backlog Milestone" so there's no definite release date: github.com/spesmilo/electrum/milestone/12
Also, ecdsa seems to be annoyed by users asking for Taproot support :/ (reference post)

[DireWolfM14]

So no Taproot address support yet? Where is that in their release timetable? It shouldn't be too hard to implement since they can just adapt similar code from Bitcoin Core.

It's currently in the "backlog Milestone" so there's no definite release date: github.com/spesmilo/electrum/milestone/12
Also, ecdsa seems to be annoyed by users asking for Taproot support :/ (reference post)

I too was hoping for taproot integration in this release.  According to a previous post in that thread by sombernight, some work needs to be done to enable watch only wallets.  I imagine that without watch-only, taproot wallets wouldn't work with hardware wallets.  I haven't checked on the progress of that particular feature, but I do hope we don't have to wait much longer.

Another comment in that thread has me confused, unless I'm missing something; a user mentioned that he no longer wants to use segwit addresses.  Why?  I know about the bech32 v0 flaw with the checksums, but I reckon the chances of that resulting in a loss of funds are rather remote.  I don't think segwit addresses are any more vulnerable to clipboard malware than any other address, and if you don't go around swapping your p's and q's I think you'll be fine.  Again, I may be missing something, and if so I hope someone will enlighten me.

[hosseinimr93]

Another comment in that thread has me confused, unless I'm missing something; a user mentioned that he no longer wants to use segwit addresses.  Why?

Are you talking about the comment made by the user with the name of nbourbon?
If so, I think he/she doesn't want to use segwit addresses just because he/she thinks that it's better to use taproot addresses. I don't think that's due to a flaw in segwit addresses.
Maybe, that user doesn't know that with using taproot addresses instead of native segwit addresses, he/she will have to pay more fee for many of the transactions.

[dkbit98]

New electrum version is released. This release is focused on improvement of Lightning UI and finally the support of the Blockstream Jade hardware wallet^[1].

I will wait few more days before updating, but it's nice to see Electrum devs are constantly improving their wallet.
Next on the list should be support for Taproot addresses.

Although i just heard this new hardware wallet, it looks like neat but like a bulk remote to me. Lol
To those who keep collecting hardware wallets, making reviews, using the liquid network, i guess its must to try.

It's not really new hardware wallet, it was released and made some time ago by Blockstream and it's basically M5StickV ESP32 device.
Similar devices can be found for same price and almost identical design and Jade code can be imported manually, so it's better to buy this instead connecting your identity with one more hardware wallet.
Order several hardware wallets on same address and name, and you could easily be target of attackers and scammers in future.

[PX-Z]

It looks bulky in the pictures since it's scaled with your monitor and it's hard to judge the size of a picture of an object without a reference.

Yeah, you're right. I've watch some video reviews, Although trezor and ledger is much smaller, yet not as big as other existing HW out there like the ellipal and keepkey. It is I guess the cheapest ones in the market.

but it's nice to see Electrum devs are constantly improving their wallet.

One of the open source bitcoin wallets that has active development which make them the best wallet aside from core ^{(a heavy duty wallet)}.

[Saint-loup]

New electrum version is released. This release is focused on improvement of Lightning UI and finally the support of the Blockstream Jade hardware wallet^[1].

# Release 4.3.0 - (August 5, 2022)

 * This version introduces a set of UI modifications that simplify the
   use of Lightning. The idea is to abstract payments from the payment
   layer, and to suggest solutions when a lightning payment is hindered
   by liquidity issues.
[...]  
    - A single balance is shown in the GUI. A pie chart reflects how
      that balance is distributed (on-chain, lightning, unconfirmed,
      frozen, etc).

This new GUI feature is a really good idea IMO, because before it wasn't very clear how much funds of your balance was available for on-chain payments, and how much funds was preempted by LN channels, and if you didn't pay attention you could get bad surprises when you wanted to make some payments.

[DireWolfM14]

Another comment in that thread has me confused, unless I'm missing something; a user mentioned that he no longer wants to use segwit addresses.  Why?

Are you talking about the comment made by the user with the name of nbourbon?
If so, I think he/she doesn't want to use segwit addresses just because he/she thinks that it's better to use taproot addresses. I don't think that's due to a flaw in segwit addresses.
Maybe, that user doesn't know that with using taproot addresses instead of native segwit addresses, he/she will have to pay more fee for many of the transactions.

Yeah, that's the one.  Maybe I misinterpreted the concern.  I want to use taproot also, but probably not enough to switch from electrum to another client.  I do run core on my PC as well, I can always grab a taproot address from there if needed.  But like you said, taproot will be more practical once more services and users have implemented it.  It took a while for most to adopt native segwit, so I imagine that we'll be waiting a couple of years before v1 addresses are ready for prime time.

[NotATether]

Another comment in that thread has me confused, unless I'm missing something; a user mentioned that he no longer wants to use segwit addresses.  Why?  I know about the bech32 v0 flaw with the checksums, but I reckon the chances of that resulting in a loss of funds are rather remote.  I don't think segwit addresses are any more vulnerable to clipboard malware than any other address, and if you don't go around swapping your p's and q's I think you'll be fine.  Again, I may be missing something, and if so I hope someone will enlighten me.

The Q and P are part of the address data (not the human readable part or separator), so given that Bech32 can error-correct up to 4 characters, swapping Ps and Qs should be a non-issue.

[Cricktor]

I observed something odd with Electrum 4.3.0 (tested with Linux AppImage binary):
When I create a request to receive coins and enter some details in the Description field, click on button Create Request and a transaction is made to the provided receiving address, the text in Description is not carried over to the Description field in the History tab, not into the Label field in the Addresses tab, nor in the Label field in Coins tab.

This has worked before in Electrum 4.2.3 properly. Seems like some degression in the unified receive request.

Can anybody else confirm this?

[nc50lc]

Can anybody else confirm this?

Yes, it only appears in the sender's history if the URI is copied.
The good news is: they already patched it right after this issue was posted (by AbdussamadA): https://github.com/spesmilo/electrum/issues/7919

[hemzer]

    

* In addition, the following new features are worth noting:
    
    - support for LNURL-pay (LUD-06) (#7839)
    

Hi I downloaded 4.3.2 but I do not see anywhere the support for LNURL.
What am I missing please?

[DireWolfM14]

* In addition, the following new features are worth noting:
    
    - support for LNURL-pay (LUD-06) (#7839)

Hi I downloaded 4.3.2 but I do not see anywhere the support for LNURL.
What am I missing please?

I'm still running 4.3.1, but it seems to be working fine for me.  Are you sure you're entering the correct url?  I haven't used LNURL-pay myself, but here's a link to a "playground": https://lnurl.fiatjaf.com/

Once Electrum is up and running, clicking on LNURL-pay link populates the data in the Send tab in Electrum.  Then I just need to click on "Get Invoice" button and it loads the transaction and prepares it for signing.

[hemzer]

* In addition, the following new features are worth noting:
    
    - support for LNURL-pay (LUD-06) (#7839)

Hi I downloaded 4.3.2 but I do not see anywhere the support for LNURL.
What am I missing please?

I'm still running 4.3.1, but it seems to be working fine for me.  Are you sure you're entering the correct url?  I haven't used LNURL-pay myself, but here's a link to a "playground": https://lnurl.fiatjaf.com/

Once Electrum is up and running, clicking on LNURL-pay link populates the data in the Send tab in Electrum.  Then I just need to click on "Get Invoice" button and it loads the transaction and prepares it for signing.

Sorry, but where is this link  "clicking on LNURL-pay"  I dont see it in the UI.

[DireWolfM14]

Sorry, but where is this link  "clicking on LNURL-pay"  I dont see it in the UI.

You won't find the link in the Electrum UI, the link I was referring to is displayed on the playground site that I provided a link to: https://lnurl.fiatjaf.com/

That site produces a variety of LNURL links, one of them is labeled "LNURL-pay."  It's just a way to test if the links can be used with your wallet.

[hemzer]

Sorry, but where is this link  "clicking on LNURL-pay"  I dont see it in the UI.

You won't find the link in the Electrum UI, the link I was referring to is displayed on the playground site that I provided a link to: https://lnurl.fiatjaf.com/

That site produces a variety of LNURL links, one of them is labeled "LNURL-pay."  It's just a way to test if the links can be used with your wallet.

OK, I get that part.
but where do I use it in the electrum desktop wallet?

[DireWolfM14]

OK, I get that part.
but where do I use it in the electrum desktop wallet?

If you're using Windows you should be able to start Electrum, go to the playground site, click on the link labeled "LNURL-pay," and the invoice will populate the "Send" tab in Electrum client.  This assumes that your OS is set to associate the Electrum client with links that start with bitcoin: or lightning:.

Instead of left-clicking on the link in the Playground site, you can right-click, copy link address, then paste that into the "Pay To" field on the "Send" tab in the Electrum client.  This will need to be done if your OS doesn't have any client software associated with bitcoin links.

ETA; The automated functions will only work if you've installed Electrum using the electrum-4.3.2-setup.exe, not the stand-alone version.

[hemzer]

Thanks.
send works

but how do you receive in electrum given a LN URL withdrawl.
Where do I put a LNURL-withdraw URL on the electrum wallet?

I am on linux