<p>Quoted directly <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Romel_Vera/publication/301958666_CRYPTOGRAPHIC_CHARACTERIZATION_OF_BITCOIN_SOFTWARE_ELECTRUM/links/572cd2e508aeb1c73d11b219/CRYPTOGRAPHIC-CHARACTERIZATION-OF-BITCOIN-SOFTWARE-ELECTRUM" rel="nofollow noreferrer">from the source:</a></p>

<blockquote>
  <p>One security advantage of Electrum is that servers are authenticated
  using SSL; this provides protection against MITM attacks, which is a
  problem for thin clients, including bloom filter clients. However,
  this advantage comes at the cost of  privacy, because the main
  Electrum server you use knowns which addresses you are using; bloom
  filter clients have more privacy although the default setting in other
  clients is to favor speed at the expense of privacy.</p>
</blockquote>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-06-22T05:12:03.390Z
That "source" is dubious. It copies verbatim, including the "knowns" typo, [this comment](https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/2feox9/electrum_securityprivacy_model/ck8szc0/) from the author of Electrum on reddit. I wouldn't be surprised if the .docx source has some macro virus.
Gascoyne
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-12-22T00:31:10.387Z
2017-12-22T00:31:10.387Z
Chak
<p><strong>EDIT2:</strong> Please don't downvote, I've edited my answer 10 minutes later.</p>

<p><strong>EDIT:</strong> <a href="https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/a/16630/11112">https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/a/16630/11112</a></p>

<blockquote>
  <p>Electrum is not peer-to-peer (P2P). It only connects to electrum-specific servers to broadcast your transactions and to receive transactions.</p>
</blockquote>

<p><s>I'm not an expert and I didn't inspect network traffic or anything.</s></p>

<p><s>My understanding is that in this context <code>"remote servers"</code> === <code>"full nodes"</code></s></p>

<p><s>Might be worth opening an issue - <a href="https://github.com/spesmilo/electrum/issues" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://github.com/spesmilo/electrum/issues</a> - to verify at the source and clarify the wording.</s></p>

<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/gjgSa.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/gjgSa.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-12-21T20:34:48.560Z
Electrum connects to Electrum servers. Other SPV wallets like MultiBit or Breadwallet connect directly to bitcoind full nodes using the SPV protocol. My question is, why? What do the Electrum servers do besides the usual SPV method?
pinhead
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-12-21T20:36:48.080Z
YEAH, got it. Seems really counterintuitive. At first I thought it's an error in wording rather than some proprietary s••t.
Mars Robertson
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-12-21T20:33:12.277Z
2017-12-28T12:12:02.097Z
2017-12-28T12:12:02.097Z
Mars Robertson
<p>What does an Electrum server do that a regular Core full node doesn't do? If the wallet downloads block headers and verifies transactions using SPV and bloom filters, why does it require special servers at all?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-12-22T00:16:35.280Z
Quoted directly from the author: [One security advantage of Electrum is that servers are authenticated using SSL; this provides protection against MITM attacks, which is a problem for thin clients, including bloom filter clients.................................................](https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Romel_Vera/publication/301958666_CRYPTOGRAPHIC_CHARACTERIZATION_OF_BITCOIN_SOFTWARE_ELECTRUM/links/572cd2e508aeb1c73d11b219/CRYPTOGRAPHIC-CHARACTERIZATION-OF-BITCOIN-SOFTWARE-ELECTRUM)
Chak
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-12-22T00:19:11.237Z
Thanks for that source! This answers my question if you want to format it as an answer
pinhead
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-12-22T00:32:32.477Z
Not a full answer, but Electrum servers offer UTXO scanning by scriptPubKey.
Pieter Wuille
<electrum><spv>
Why does Electrum's SPV require proprietary servers?
pinhead
# Why does Electrum's SPV require proprietary servers?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2017-12-21)

What does an Electrum server do that a regular Core full node doesn't do? If the wallet downloads block headers and verifies transactions using SPV and bloom filters, why does it require special servers at all?

**Tags:** electrum, spv

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Quoted directly from the author: [One security advantage of Electrum is that servers are authenticated using SSL; this provides protection against MITM attacks, which is a problem for thin clients, including bloom filter clients.................................................](https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Romel_Vera/publication/301958666_CRYPTOGRAPHIC_CHARACTERIZATION_OF_BITCOIN_SOFTWARE_ELECTRUM/links/572cd2e508aeb1c73d11b219/CRYPTOGRAPHIC-CHARACTERIZATION-OF-BITCOIN-SOFTWARE-ELECTRUM)  
> **username_0**: Thanks for that source! This answers my question if you want to format it as an answer  
> **username_2**: Not a full answer, but Electrum servers offer UTXO scanning by scriptPubKey.  

---

## 2 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2017-12-22. Score: 1 | Accepted answer

Quoted directly [from the source:](https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Romel_Vera/publication/301958666_CRYPTOGRAPHIC_CHARACTERIZATION_OF_BITCOIN_SOFTWARE_ELECTRUM/links/572cd2e508aeb1c73d11b219/CRYPTOGRAPHIC-CHARACTERIZATION-OF-BITCOIN-SOFTWARE-ELECTRUM)

> One security advantage of Electrum is that servers are authenticated
> using SSL; this provides protection against MITM attacks, which is a
> problem for thin clients, including bloom filter clients. However,
> this advantage comes at the cost of privacy, because the main
> Electrum server you use knowns which addresses you are using; bloom
> filter clients have more privacy although the default setting in other
> clients is to favor speed at the expense of privacy.

> **Comments:**
> **username_3**: That "source" is dubious. It copies verbatim, including the "knowns" typo, [this comment](https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/2feox9/electrum_securityprivacy_model/ck8szc0/) from the author of Electrum on reddit. I wouldn't be surprised if the .docx source has some macro virus.  

---

### Answer by username_4 on 2017-12-21. Score: -2

**EDIT2:** Please don't downvote, I've edited my answer 10 minutes later.

**EDIT:** <https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/a/16630/11112>

> Electrum is not peer-to-peer (P2P). It only connects to electrum-specific servers to broadcast your transactions and to receive transactions.

~~I'm not an expert and I didn't inspect network traffic or anything.~~

~~My understanding is that in this context `"remote servers"` === `"full nodes"`~~

~~Might be worth opening an issue - <https://github.com/spesmilo/electrum/issues> - to verify at the source and clarify the wording.~~

[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/gjgSa.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/gjgSa.png)

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Electrum connects to Electrum servers. Other SPV wallets like MultiBit or Breadwallet connect directly to bitcoind full nodes using the SPV protocol. My question is, why? What do the Electrum servers do besides the usual SPV method?  
> **username_4**: YEAH, got it. Seems really counterintuitive. At first I thought it's an error in wording rather than some proprietary s••t.  

---

