diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 0a17f3b..350c35f 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ anyhow = "1.0"
 bitcoin = { version = "0.31.1", features = ["serde"] }
 bitcoincore-rpc = { version = "0.18" }
 bitcoincore-zmq = "1.4.0"
+electrum-client = { git = "https://github.com/cygnet3/rust-electrum-client", branch = "sp_tweaks" }
 env_logger = "0.9"
 futures-util = { version = "0.3.28", default-features = false, features = ["sink", "std"] }
 log = "0.4.20"
diff --git a/src/electrumclient.rs b/src/electrumclient.rs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..897d533
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/electrumclient.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+use electrum_client::{Client, ConfigBuilder};
+use log::info;
+
+const ELECTRS_URI: &str = "ssl://silentpayments.dev:51002";
+const VALIDATE_DOMAIN: bool = false; // self-signed cert, so we don't validate
+
+pub fn create_electrum_client() -> anyhow::Result<Client> {
+    let config = ConfigBuilder::new()
+        .validate_domain(VALIDATE_DOMAIN)
+        .build();
+    let electrum_client = Client::from_config(ELECTRS_URI, config)?;
+    info!("ssl client {}", ELECTRS_URI);
+
+    Ok(electrum_client)
+}
diff --git a/src/main.rs b/src/main.rs
index 74a0ebe..72a4eeb 100644
--- a/src/main.rs
+++ b/src/main.rs
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ mod daemon;
 mod spclient;
 mod constants;
 mod db;
+mod electrumclient;
 
 use crate::daemon::Daemon;
 use crate::sp::VinData;