Objective
The objective is to download, verify and install Electrum Bitcoin wallet on Ubuntu 18.04 Bionic Beaver Linux Desktop
Operating System and Software Versions
- Operating System: – Ubuntu 18.04 Bionic Beaver
- Software: – Electrum 3.0.6 or higher
Requirements
Privileged access to your Ubuntu System as root or via sudo command is required.
Difficulty
EASY
Conventions
- # – requires given linux commands to be executed with root privileges either directly as a root user or by use of
sudocommand - $ – requires given linux commands to be executed as a regular non-privileged user
Instructions
Download Bitcoin Wallet
First step is to download Electrum Bitcoin wallet. Navigate your browser to the official Electrum download page and locate the URL of the latest Electrum bitcoin wallet *.tar.gz file. At the time of writing the latest version is 3.0.6.
Use wget command to download both, the actual tar ball as well as signature which will be used later to verify authenticity of the downloaded package. Example:
$ wget https://download.electrum.org/3.0.6/Electrum-3.0.6.tar.gz https://download.electrum.org/3.0.6/Electrum-3.0.6.tar.gz.asc
Verify Bitcoin Wallet download
Next step is to verify the actual download. The source code is signed by Thomas Voegtlin (https://electrum.org). Let’s import a relevant key signature:
$ gpg --keyserver pool.sks-keyservers.net --recv-keys 2BD5824B7F9470E6
gpg: key 2BD5824B7F9470E6: public key "Thomas Voegtlin (https://electrum.org) " imported
gpg: no ultimately trusted keys found
gpg: Total number processed: 1
gpg: imported: 1
With the signature imported, verify the downloaded Electrum tarball:
$ gpg --verify Electrum-3.0.6.tar.gz.asc Electrum-3.0.6.tar.gz
gpg: Signature made Sat 03 Feb 2018 19:59:22 AEDT
gpg: using RSA key 2BD5824B7F9470E6
gpg: Good signature from "Thomas Voegtlin (https://electrum.org) " [unknown]
gpg: aka "ThomasV thomasv1@gmx.de" [unknown]
gpg: aka "Thomas Voegtlin thomasv1@gmx.de" [unknown]
gpg: WARNING: This key is not certified with a trusted signature!
gpg: There is no indication that the signature belongs to the owner.
Primary key fingerprint: 6694 D8DE 7BE8 EE56 31BE D950 2BD5 824B 7F94 70E6 Note the Good signature on the above Line 4.
Install Bitcoin Wallet
At this stage we are ready to install Electrum bitcoin wallet. First install all prerequisites:
$ sudo apt -y install python3-pip python3-pyqt5
Next, install the actual Electrum bitcoin wallet. Replace the Electrum package name with your downloaded version:
$ sudo pip3 install Electrum-3.0.6.tar.gz
Start Bitcoin Wallet
You can start Electrum bitcoin wallet by opening a terminal and executing command:
$ electrum
Alternatively, search your start menu for Electrum bitcoin wallet:
