diff --git a/electrum b/electrum
index 60fef3e58..020142afc 100755
--- a/electrum
+++ b/electrum
@@ -17,17 +17,8 @@
 # You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
 # along with this program. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
 
-from decimal import Decimal
 import os
-import re
 import sys
-import time
-import traceback
-
-import threading
-import socket
-import Queue
-from collections import defaultdict
 
 
 script_dir = os.path.dirname(os.path.realpath(__file__))
@@ -78,7 +69,7 @@ if is_bundle or is_local or is_android:
 from electrum import util
 from electrum import SimpleConfig, Network, Wallet, WalletStorage
 from electrum.util import print_msg, print_error, print_stderr, json_encode, json_decode, set_verbosity, InvalidPassword
-from electrum.plugins import Plugins, run_hook
+from electrum.plugins import Plugins
 from electrum.commands import get_parser, known_commands, Commands, config_variables
 from electrum.daemon import Daemon, get_daemon
 
@@ -312,7 +303,7 @@ if __name__ == '__main__':
     # check uri
     uri = config_options.get('url')
     if uri:
-        if not re.match('^bitcoin:', uri):
+        if not uri.startswith('bitcoin:'):
             print_stderr('unknown command:', uri)
             sys.exit(1)
         config_options['url'] = uri