Wallets, Coldkeys, and Hotkeys
Understanding Bittensor wallets and the roles of coldkeys and hotkeys for security, identity, and operations.
Wallets, Coldkeys, and Hotkeys
In Bittensor, a wallet represents your identity and signing authority. It manages two key types:
- Coldkey — The security-critical key that controls TAO and stake. Use for financial transactions (stake/unstake/transfer). Keep offline or in a secure environment.
- Hotkey — The operational key used by network participants to run miners/validators, register, and submit weights on-chain.
References: Wallets (learnbittensor.org), Working with Keys, BTCLI Reference
Why two keys?
- Security separation: Coldkey protects funds; hotkey performs day-to-day on-chain actions for miners/validators.
- Operational safety: If a hotkey is compromised on a node, cold funds remain protected.
Typical lifecycle
- Create/import wallet and generate a coldkey (store seed securely).
- Generate a hotkey for the role (mining/validating/subnet operations).
- Fund and manage stake with the coldkey; operate services using the hotkey.
Best practices
- Store coldkey seed offline; use hardware-backed storage where possible.
- Never place coldkey on internet-exposed nodes.
- Validate you’re using official tools and documentation.