Bitcoin wallets are an integral tool in the world of cryptocurrency. Unfortunately, not all wallets are created equal. The Electrum Pro wallet has nothing to do with the official Electrum wallet, and it is seemingly intent on stealing seed keys from users.
Beware of Electrum Pro
In the world of cryptocurrency, copycat initiatives are nothing new under the sun. Whether they are phishing platforms or malicious Bitcoin wallets, potential security threats will continue to appear for quite some time to come. The Electrum Pro wallet, for example, is an interesting creation, albeit one which users need to be wary of.
Despite what the name might suggest, Electrum Pro has nothing to do with the well-known Electrum wallet. That shouldn’t surprise too many people, as there is no additional functionality which Electrum developers would hide behind a paywall at this point in time. Even so, the devs have taken the time to point out the copycat via GitHub.
As one would expect from a malicious cryptocurrency wallet such as this one, Electrum Pro has very few honest intentions. While it seems legitimate on the surface, it is the underlying code that users need to be aware of. Not only does the wallet use the Electrum brand name without permission, but the code is also set up in such a way that it can steal seed keys from Bitcoin wallets.
With a seed key, a created Bitcoin wallet can be imported into other software, and funds can be moved without the permission of the actual owner. Although it is unclear if any theft has taken place yet, the Electrum team wants to keep Bitcoin enthusiasts safe from harm first and foremost.
The binaries for both versions of Electrum Pro – Windows and macOS – contain the code needed to steal seed keys from unsuspecting users. Even though the Electrum team long suspected this wallet to be malicious, the binaries have provided the smoking gun. Although only one type of binary was examined, it is possible other versions may be compromised as well.
For the time being, it is advised that Bitcoin users remain extremely careful when dealing with wallet solutions they do not know. Although competition in this space is a good thing, there is no reason to put one’s seed key at risk. It is advised to move one’s funds from Electrum Pro to a different wallet just to err on the side of caution.
