<p>A dishonest server could lie to you about how many bitcoins you have. </p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-03-07T07:34:54.417Z
Don't all the Electrum servers connect to each other, so you can connect to any of them? If so, wouldn't they all hold the same information about your account?
Ramon Tayag
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-03-07T07:48:03.980Z
All of the honest servers will tell you the same thing. But a dishonest server could lie.
Nick ODell
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-05-04T03:47:40.693Z
This is not correct, they can give you false *low* wallet balances, but not falsely high ones.
Claris
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-05-04T04:05:02.153Z
@bitcoin sure it could - by not telling you about a transaction that spends one of your outputs.
Nick ODell
CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-01-17T16:10:58.377Z
@NickODell are you sure about this? what you describe would be a client that fully trusts the server, however according to this talk from the author of Electrum (https://youtu.be/hjYCXOyDy7Y?t=718 <- exact moment) it says that Electrum is one level above the "server-trusting" wallets, that is, it's a SPV wallet; if this is still the case nowadays, I wonder what's the difference between this and a "server-trusting" wallet?
user1623521
CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-01-22T03:32:42.930Z
@user1623521 He describes what he means in that video. To rephrase what he said, Electrum servers tell a client, "You got this transaction and this transaction and this transaction." Servers for server-trusting wallets say, "You have five bitcoins, trust me, I added it up correctly." In other words, 'server trusting wallets' can hide *or exaggerate* your Bitcoin holdings.
Nick ODell
CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-01-22T07:06:27.497Z
@NickODell you didn't seem to watch the video I sent; Electrum does some validation on the messages it gets from the servers to make sure they are not lying
user1623521
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-03-06T17:34:09.113Z
2015-05-03T23:34:38.883Z
2015-05-03T23:34:38.883Z
Nick ODell
<p>They'll be able to track your transactions/addresses and tie them to your IP address, although this is mitigated if you are using proxies (you can also go through Tor). </p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-05-04T19:33:09.783Z
2015-05-04T19:33:09.783Z
k kurokawa
<p>Bitcoin-Qt is getting require large and is taking up over 10% of the space on my little laptop. Looking for an alternative, I saw <a href="http://electrum.org/">Electrum</a>. I downloaded the app and I'm able to connect to a server, but I'm wondering: <strong>what would the security implications be of not connecting to your own server</strong>?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-03-06T13:36:16.847Z
I like to know what are the security implication of *hosting your own server* :-)
barrymac
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-03-07T07:35:17.553Z
Yeah, that's a good follow up question. You should ask it, and link it here!
Ramon Tayag
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-03-07T15:49:18.350Z
good idea, done:  [Vice Versa](http://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/8214/what-are-the-security-consideration-for-hosting-your-own-electrum-server)
barrymac
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-03-07T18:07:57.563Z
@barrymac Nothing, unless there's a security issue in Electrum.
Nick ODell
<electrum>
What are the security implications of not hosting your own Electrum server?
Ramon Tayag
# What are the security implications of not hosting your own Electrum server?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2013-03-06)

Bitcoin-Qt is getting require large and is taking up over 10% of the space on my little laptop. Looking for an alternative, I saw [Electrum](http://electrum.org/). I downloaded the app and I'm able to connect to a server, but I'm wondering: **what would the security implications be of not connecting to your own server**?

**Tags:** electrum

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: I like to know what are the security implication of *hosting your own server* :-)  
> **username_0**: Yeah, that's a good follow up question. You should ask it, and link it here!  
> **username_1**: good idea, done:  [Vice Versa](http://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/8214/what-are-the-security-consideration-for-hosting-your-own-electrum-server)  
> **username_2**: @username_1 Nothing, unless there's a security issue in Electrum.  

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## 2 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2013-03-06. Score: 2 | Accepted answer

A dishonest server could lie to you about how many bitcoins you have.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Don't all the Electrum servers connect to each other, so you can connect to any of them? If so, wouldn't they all hold the same information about your account?  
> **username_2**: All of the honest servers will tell you the same thing. But a dishonest server could lie.  
> **username_3**: This is not correct, they can give you false *low* wallet balances, but not falsely high ones.  
> **username_2**: @bitcoin sure it could - by not telling you about a transaction that spends one of your outputs.  
> **username_4**: @username_2 are you sure about this? what you describe would be a client that fully trusts the server, however according to this talk from the author of Electrum (https://youtu.be/hjYCXOyDy7Y?t=718 <- exact moment) it says that Electrum is one level above the "server-trusting" wallets, that is, it's a SPV wallet; if this is still the case nowadays, I wonder what's the difference between this and a "server-trusting" wallet?  
> **username_2**: @username_4 He describes what he means in that video. To rephrase what he said, Electrum servers tell a client, "You got this transaction and this transaction and this transaction." Servers for server-trusting wallets say, "You have five bitcoins, trust me, I added it up correctly." In other words, 'server trusting wallets' can hide *or exaggerate* your Bitcoin holdings.  
> **username_4**: @username_2 you didn't seem to watch the video I sent; Electrum does some validation on the messages it gets from the servers to make sure they are not lying  

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### Answer by username_5 on 2015-05-04. Score: 2

They'll be able to track your transactions/addresses and tie them to your IP address, although this is mitigated if you are using proxies (you can also go through Tor).


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