<p>Many antivirus software mark Bitcoin wallets as being malware because they look for wallet files. When an antivirus sees a particular software looking for a wallet file, it may flag that software as a virus. This is because coin stealing malware and your Bitcoin wallet software both do very similar things. Both will look for a wallet file, open the file, read the private keys, and send Bitcoin. The only difference is that a coin stealing malware will either send the Bitcoin automatically to the attacker's address but your wallet software will let you choose who to send your Bitcoin to and only when you want it to do that.</p>

<p>Coin stealing malware may also look for your wallet file and send that to the attacker.</p>

<p>So because coin stealing malware and wallet software behave similarly (especially with the looking for wallet files part), many antivirus software will mistakenly flag a wallet software as being a virus.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-01-03T17:08:02.003Z
2019-01-03T17:08:02.003Z
Ava Chow
<p>I downloaded electrum wallet 3.3.2 recently and installed it. But my anti-virus software detected a trojan from my wallet file. This has happened many times previously. </p>

<p>Why do anti-virus softwares always report trojan in Bitcoin wallets?</p>

<wallet>
Anti-Virus Software Found Trojan from Electrum?
Xenomorph
# Anti-Virus Software Found Trojan from Electrum?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2019-01-03)

I downloaded electrum wallet 3.3.2 recently and installed it. But my anti-virus software detected a trojan from my wallet file. This has happened many times previously.

Why do anti-virus softwares always report trojan in Bitcoin wallets?

**Tags:** wallet


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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2019-01-03. Score: 3 | Accepted answer

Many antivirus software mark Bitcoin wallets as being malware because they look for wallet files. When an antivirus sees a particular software looking for a wallet file, it may flag that software as a virus. This is because coin stealing malware and your Bitcoin wallet software both do very similar things. Both will look for a wallet file, open the file, read the private keys, and send Bitcoin. The only difference is that a coin stealing malware will either send the Bitcoin automatically to the attacker's address but your wallet software will let you choose who to send your Bitcoin to and only when you want it to do that.

Coin stealing malware may also look for your wallet file and send that to the attacker.

So because coin stealing malware and wallet software behave similarly (especially with the looking for wallet files part), many antivirus software will mistakenly flag a wallet software as being a virus.


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