ElectrumSV wallet update fixes coin-splitting faucet

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The powerful and feature focused ElectrumSV wallet team has announced the release of version 1.2.4 of their Bitcoin SV (BSV) focused wallet. The release focuses on a few vital changes to keep coin-splitting working in the wallet, as well as what blockchain supporters it supports.

Announced in a Medium blog post, the update carefully explains each update, why it was necessary, and how the new functionality works, along with links to documentation.

Perhaps the most important change is a fix to get coin-splitting working once again. Sadly, coin-splitting was made unavailable for some time, as a malicious party got around restrictions and took advantage of the faucet containing all of ElectrumSV’s BSV supply. This mandated a fix that would protect the faucet from further abuse. Roger Taylor explained:

The faucet has been changed to require a captcha, and the way the loser was stealing the funds will no longer work. Also, because we now require the person who is splitting to use the web site directly, this gives the faucet even more leeway to be updated if the loser decides to attack the faucet again.

The full explanation of how to perform coin-splitting, the process of separating BSV from SegWitCoin (BTC) and Bitcoin Cash (BCHABC), is explained in the blog. While it’s mostly the same as it was when ElectrumSV launched, it now will pop-up a browser to collect the faucet dust necessary for the procedure. This will work for wallets on the mainnet, but also wallets on the testnet and the Scaling Test Network (STN), for developers looking to try out their work.

The upgrade also brings changes to the block explorers used by ElectrumSV. Blockchair explorer, which was previously removed because of its insistence in keeping the outdated “cash address.” As the site has now dropped that address format, it fits back in with the standards ElectrumSV has been keeping, and has been re-added.

They used that update to broadcast that other blockchain explorers that wish to be included in the wallet will need to follow Blockchair’s path and remove cash addresses, singling out bsv.btc.com as an example of an explorer they are not currently supporting for that reason.

ElectrumSV has been a feature filled BSV wallet since January, when they released their Desktop wallet for the original Bitcoin. They’ve also signaled that they want to focus on broader adoption by making their wallet friendlier to all users.

Update: This article previously stated ElectrumSV’s coin-splitting faucet was hacked. That was in error, and this article has been updated accordingly.