Self-custodial mobile Lightning wallet from ACINQ with automatic channels and swaps
Privacy 8.6
Safety 8.5
Wallets Since 2011 Reviewed 22 Oct 2026
Electrum review
Long-established open-source Bitcoin wallet with Lightning support
- No account needed
- Never holds your funds
- Open source
- Accepts Lightning
- No email needed
- Company named
ID never required KYC 0 Documentation reviewed
Privacy
8.6/ 10
Excellent
Safety
8.5/ 10
Excellent
Based on terms and documentation. No test transactions published yet. See the arithmetic
Electrum review in short
Electrum is a wallet operating since 2011. Its terms put it at KYC level 0 of 4: ID never required. NoKYC Score grades it 8.6/10 for privacy (excellent) and 8.5/10 for safety (excellent). In its favour: no account needed, no email needed and no phone number. No incidents are on record.
- Category
- Wallets
- KYC level
- 0 of 4: ID never required
- Grades
- Privacy 8.6/10, Safety 8.5/10
- Sign-up
- No account needed
- Custody
- non-custodial
- Jurisdiction
- Germany
- Incidents on record
- 0
- Last reviewed
- 22 Oct 2026
Cite this review
NoKYC Score, "Electrum review", reviewed 22 Oct 2026, https://nokycscore.com/service/electrum
Also available as plain text.
What Electrum is
Electrum is one of the oldest Bitcoin wallets still maintained, first released in 2011, and is open-source software for desktop and Android. It is a lightweight wallet that connects to Electrum servers rather than downloading the full blockchain, supports hardware wallets, multisignature setups and Lightning payments, and has a plugin system. The official site warns users to download only from electrum.org and to verify GPG signatures, because fake copies have circulated for years. The software is provided by Electrum Technologies GmbH at no cost. It has no accounts; privacy depends partly on which server the wallet connects to.
What Electrum offers, and what to watch
9 of 13 privacy and safety features, 0 warnings in its terms.
"Not stated" means its own pages do not say.
Identity
- ID never required Yes The terms rule identity checks out, or the design makes them impossible.
- No account needed Yes Usable without creating an account, or the account is only a random number.
- No email needed Yes An email address is not required to sign up or use it.
- No phone number Yes A phone number is never required.
Payment
- Accepts Monero Not stated
- Accepts Lightning Yes Bitcoin Lightning payments: fast, cheap and more private than on-chain.
Access
- Tor onion address Not stated
- Works without JavaScript Not stated
Trust
- Never holds your funds Yes The operator never controls user funds, so it cannot freeze them.
- Open source Yes The code that matters is public and can be inspected.
- Independent audit Not stated
- Company named Yes The operating company and its jurisdiction are published.
- 5+ years operating Yes Has operated continuously for five years or more.
Warnings
- May ask for ID Not in terms
- Screens deposits Not in terms
- Holds your funds Not in terms
- Email required Not in terms
- Phone number required Not in terms
- Closed source Not in terms
- Nobody accountable Not in terms
Does Electrum require KYC?
- 0 Never
- 1 Not mentioned
- 2 Rare
- 3 On risk flag
- 4 Mandatory
KYC level 0: ID never required. The terms rule out identity checks, or the design makes them impossible.
Self-custodial wallet software with no accounts or identity collection.
How the grades add up
Both grades start at 50 points and move by fixed, published amounts. Nothing is adjusted by hand. The total is divided by ten.
Privacy
8.6- Starting points 50
- KYC level 0: ID never required +20
- No registration +6
- No email needed +3
- No phone needed +1
- Accepts Lightning +1
- Open source +2
- Non-custodial +3
- Total, clamped to 0–100 86
Safety
8.5- Starting points 50
- Open source +8
- Non-custodial +12
- 5+ years operating +10
- Legal entity disclosed +5
- Total, clamped to 0–100 85
Test ledger
Real transactions run by our editors. A badge without a ledger is an assertion; this is the proof.
No test transactions published yet
The grades above rest on Electrum’s terms and documentation. Tests will appear here with the date, route, amount band and result as they are run.
Incidents on record
No incidents are on record for Electrum. If you have a documented case, report it.
User reviews
Reviews never change a grade. Reviews with a transaction reference are marked.
No reviews yet.
Write a review
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Electrum: common questions
Does Electrum require KYC?
Electrum is rated KYC level 0 of 4 on this site: ID never required. Self-custodial wallet software with no accounts or identity collection.
Is Electrum safe to use?
Electrum has a Safety grade of 8.5 out of 10 and a Privacy grade of 8.6 out of 10. No incidents are on record. Evidence level: documentation reviewed.
Is Electrum legit?
Electrum is a working wallet that has operated since 2011. It publishes the company that runs it, in Germany. Being real is not the same as being safe: its Safety grade here is 8.5 out of 10, built from custody, liquidity, track record and incidents.
Is Electrum a scam?
NoKYC Score does not label services as scams; it records documented incidents with their sources and outcomes. No incidents are on record for Electrum.
Do I need an account or email to use Electrum?
No account needed.
Does Electrum have a Tor onion address?
No official onion address was found on Electrum's own pages.
Which cryptocurrencies does Electrum support?
Electrum supports BTC.
Can I use Electrum over Tor?
Electrum does not publish an official onion address.
Listing history
- Listing added. Facts and KYC level set from the service's own terms and documentation.