Electrum Wallet for Bitmark - Staged Implementation

[melvincarvalho]

Summary

Create a lightweight Electrum-style wallet for Bitmark, implemented in stages to allow incremental development and testing.

Motivation

Currently Bitmark users must run a full node to manage their funds. An Electrum-style wallet would provide:

• Lightweight client (no full blockchain download)
• Fast synchronization
• Hardware wallet support (future)
• Cross-platform desktop application

Technical Approach

Base Fork

• Electrum 3.3.x - Proven base used by Electrum-LTC, Electron Cash
• Python-based, well-documented, active maintenance

Bitmark Network Parameters

# Mainnet
ADDRTYPE_P2PKH = 0x55        # 85 - addresses start with 'b'
ADDRTYPE_P2SH = 0x05         # 5
WIF_PREFIX = 0xD5            # 213
GENESIS_HASH = "c1fb746e87e89ae75bdec2ef0639a1f6786744639ce3d0ece1dcf979b79137cb"
DEFAULT_PORT = 9265
RPC_PORT = 9266

# BIP32 Extended Keys
XPUB_HEADER = 0x0488B21E
XPRV_HEADER = 0x0488ADE4

Key Files to Modify

File	Purpose
electrum/constants.py	Network params, genesis, prefixes
electrum/network.py	Server connection handling
electrum/util.py	Config directory (.electrum-bitmark)
setup.py	Package metadata

Staged Implementation

Stage 1: Proof of Concept (RPC Backend)

Goal: Working wallet connected directly to bitmarkd RPC

• Fork Electrum 3.3.x
• Update constants.py with Bitmark parameters
• Replace ElectrumX client with bitmarkd RPC adapter
• Basic functionality: generate addresses, check balance, send BTM
• Test on mainnet with small amounts

Deliverable: Desktop wallet requiring local bitmarkd node

Stage 2: ElectrumX Integration

Goal: Proper Electrum protocol with dedicated server

• Fork ElectrumX and add Bitmark coin support
• Handle multi-algorithm PoW block headers (or trust daemon)
• Address indexing and history
• Switch wallet from RPC to ElectrumX protocol
• Local server testing

Deliverable: Self-hosted ElectrumX + compatible wallet

Stage 3: Production Infrastructure

Goal: Public servers for end users

• Deploy 2-3 geographically distributed ElectrumX servers
• SSL certificates and hardened configuration
• Hardcode public server list in wallet
• Release builds (Windows, macOS, Linux)
• User documentation

Deliverable: Production-ready lightweight wallet

Reference Implementations

• Electrum-LTC - Cleanest fork, closest to upstream
• Electron Cash - Best documented changes
• ElectrumX - Server implementation

Considerations

Multi-Algorithm PoW

Bitmark supports 8 PoW algorithms. For Stage 1 (RPC), this is handled by bitmarkd. For Stage 2+, ElectrumX needs to either:

• Implement header validation for all algorithms, OR
• Trust the connected bitmarkd for validation

No SegWit

Bitmark does not support SegWit, simplifying the implementation (no bech32 addresses needed).

Repository Structure

Propose creating new repos under project-bitmark:

• electrum-bitmark - Wallet client
• electrumx-bitmark - Server (Stage 2+)

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Labels: enhancement, wallet, infrastructure

[melvincarvalho]

Stage 1 PoC Complete

Repository created and initial fork working: https://github.com/project-bitmark/electrum-bitmark

What's Working

Feature	Status
Wallet creation	✅
Bitmark addresses (start with b)	✅
Seed phrase generation (BIP39)	✅
Qt GUI	✅
CLI commands	✅
Python 3.12 compatibility	✅

Test Results

Addresses generated:
- bPkEA5rE7JENZwuFLvByVWPzk1hcV9MHUd
- bYLFmMap2TB8hhyxpjUctym6KtsP3pWfau
- bR8RNppVwVDcJXgMnDcSM4HUrsmWewDXk2
...

All addresses correctly use the 0x55 prefix and start with 'b'.

To Run Locally

git clone https://github.com/project-bitmark/electrum-bitmark
cd electrum-bitmark
python3 -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate
pip install -e .
pip install 'protobuf<4' PyQt5 setuptools

./run_electrum gui                    # Launch GUI
./run_electrum create -w my_wallet    # Create wallet (CLI)
./run_electrum listaddresses -w my_wallet

Next Steps

• Build RPC adapter to connect to bitmarkd
• Fetch balances from local node
• Send transactions via bitmarkd RPC
• Stage 2: ElectrumX server integration