Electron Cash - Lightweight Bitcoin Cash client

Licence: MIT Licence
Author: Electron Cash Developers
Language: Python
Homepage: https://electroncash.org/

Getting started

Note: If running from source, Python 3.8 or above is required to run Electron Cash. If your system lacks Python 3.8, you have other options, such as the AppImage / binary releases or running from source using pyenv (see section Running from source on old Linux below).

macOS: It is recommended that macOS users run the binary .dmg as that's simpler to use and has everything included. Otherwise, if you want to run from source, see section Running from source on macOS below.

Electron Cash is a pure python application forked from Electrum. If you want to use the Qt interface, install the Qt dependencies:

sudo apt-get install python3-pyqt5 python3-pyqt5.qtsvg

If you downloaded the official package (tar.gz), you can run Electron Cash from its root directory (called Electron Cash), without installing it on your system; all the python dependencies are included in the 'packages' directory. To run Electron Cash from its root directory, just do:

./electron-cash

You can also install Electron Cash on your system, by running this command:

sudo apt-get install python3-setuptools
python3 setup.py install

Compile the icons file for Qt (normally you can skip this step, run this command if icons are missing):

sudo apt-get install pyqt5-dev-tools
pyrrc5 icons.qrc -o electroncash_gui/qt/icons.py

This will download and install the Python dependencies used by Electron Cash, instead of using the 'packages' directory.

If you cloned the git repository, you need to compile extra files before you can run Electron Cash. Read the next section, "Development Version".

Hardware Wallet - Ledger Nano S

Electron Cash natively support Ledger Nano S hardware wallet. If you plan to use you need an additional dependency, namely btchip. To install it run this command:

sudo pip3 install btchip-python

If you still have problems connecting to your Nano S please have a look at this troubleshooting section on Ledger website.

Development version

Check your python version >= 3.8, and install pyqt5, as instructed above in the Getting started section above or Running from source on old Linux section below.

If you are on macOS, see the Running from source on macOS section below.

Check out the code from Github:

git clone https://github.com/Electron-Cash/Electron-Cash
cd Electron-Cash

Install the python dependencies:

pip3 install -r contrib/requirements/requirements.txt --user

Create translations (optional):

sudo apt-get install python-requests gettext
./contrib/make_locale

Compile libsecp256k1 (optional, yet highly recommended):

sudo apt-get install libtool automake
./contrib/make_secp

For plugin development, see the plugin documentation.

Running unit tests (very optional, advanced users only):

pip install tox
tox

Tox will take care of building a faux installation environment, and ensure that the mapped import paths work correctly.

Running from source on old Linux

If your Linux distribution has a different version of python 3 (such as python 3.5 in Debian 9), it is recommended to do a user dir install with pyenv. This allows Electron Cash to run completely independently of your system configuration.

1. Install pyenv in your user account. Follow the printed instructions about updating your environment variables and .bashrc, and restart your shell to ensure that they are loaded.
2. Run pyenv install 3.11.1. This will download and compile that version of python, storing it under .pyenv in your home directory.
3. cd into the Electron Cash directory. Run pyenv local 3.11.1 which inserts a file .python-version into the current directory.
4. While still in this directory, run pip install pyqt5.
5. If you are installing from the source file (.tar.gz or .zip) then you are ready and you may run ./electron-cash. If you are using the git version, then continue by following the Development version instructions above.

Running from source on macOS

You need to install either MacPorts or HomeBrew. Follow the instructions on either site for installing (Xcode from Apple's developer site is required for either).

1. After installing either HomeBrew or MacPorts, clone this repository and switch to the directory: git clone https://github.com/Electron-Cash/Electron-Cash && cd Electron-Cash
2. Install python 3.8 or later. For brew: brew install python3 or if using MacPorts: sudo port install python311
3. Install PyQt5: python3 -m pip install --user pyqt5
4. Install Electron Cash requirements: python3 -m pip install --user -r contrib/requirements/requirements.txt
5. Compile libsecp256k1 (optional, yet highly recommended): ./contrib/make_secp. This requires GNU tools and automake, install with brew: brew install coreutils automake or if using MacPorts: sudo port install coreutils automake
6. At this point you should be able to just run the sources: ./electron-cash

Creating Binaries

Linux AppImage & Source Tarball

See contrib/build-linux/README.md.

Mac OS X / macOS

See contrib/osx/.

Windows

See contrib/build-wine/.

Android

See android/.

iOS

See ios/.