Skip to content

🗃 Create Your Bittensor Wallet

This section provides step-by-step instructions to create your Bittensor wallet using the Bittensor CLI (BTCLI). You will create both a coldkey and a hotkey wallet, which are essential for participating in the Bittensor network.

Prerequisites

  • Install and open Terminal or Command Line Interface to run commands.
  • Install Python (>= v3.10) and pip (>= 23):

1. Install Bittensor CLI

First, you need to install the Bittensor CLI (BTCLI) using pip:

pip install -U bittensor-cli

2. Create your wallets

2.1. Create a coldkey

OPTION A. Interactively with prompts and password protection:

btcli wallet new-coldkey

SECURITY

  • This command will prompt you to enter a password and will generate a mnemonic phrase (a series of words) for wallet recovery.
  • Make sure to securely store your mnemonic phrase, as it cannot be recovered if lost (only shown once).
  • Never share your coldkey, mnemonic phrase, or password with anyone.
  • Ensure that you keep your coldkey secure and offline if possible.

OPTION B. Non-interactively with specified arguments (no password):

Arguments

Make sure to replace the placeholders:

  • <WALLET_PATH> with the path where you want to store the wallet (e.g., ~/.bittensor/wallets).
  • <WALLET_NAME> with your wallet name (e.g., my_wallet, sn61_wallet, miner, validator, default, etc.).
  • <NUMBER_WORDS> can typically be 12, 15, 18, 21, or 24 depending on your security preference.
btcli wallet new-coldkey \
    --wallet-path <WALLET_PATH> \
    --wallet-name <WALLET_NAME> \
    --n-words <NUMBER_WORDS> \
    --no-use-password \
    --overwrite \
    --verbose

# For example:
btcli wallet new-coldkey \
    --wallet-name my_wallet \
    --wallet-path ~/.bittensor/wallets \
    --n-words 12 \
    --no-use-password \
    --overwrite \
    --verbose

2.2. Create a hotkey

IMPORTANT

  • Hotkey is linked to the coldkey, so ensure you have created the coldkey first.
  • Make sure to use the same wallet name and wallet path as your coldkey when creating the hotkey.
  • Your hotkey will be stored on your system and used for frequent operations like mining, validating, etc.

OPTION A. Interactively with prompts:

btcli wallet new-hotkey

OPTION B. Non-interactively with specified arguments:

Arguments

Make sure to replace the placeholders:

  • <WALLET_PATH> with the path where you want to store the wallet (e.g., ~/.bittensor/wallets).
  • <WALLET_NAME> with your wallet name (e.g., my_wallet, sn61_wallet, miner, validator, default, etc.).
  • <HOTKEY_NAME> with your hotkey name (e.g., my_hotkey, hot_key1, hot_key2, default etc.).
  • <NUMBER_WORDS> can typically be 12, 15, 18, 21, or 24 depending on your security preference.
btcli wallet new-hotkey \
    --wallet-path <WALLET_PATH> \
    --wallet-name <WALLET_NAME> \
    --wallet-hotkey <HOTKEY_NAME> \
    --n-words <NUMBER_WORDS> \
    --overwrite \
    --verbose

# For example:
btcli wallet new-hotkey \
    --wallet-name my_wallet \
    --wallet-path ~/.bittensor/wallets \
    --wallet-hotkey my_hotkey \
    --n-words 12 \
    --overwrite \
    --verbose

Multiple Hotkeys

You can create multiple hotkeys for a single coldkey if needed.

3. Verify your wallets

btcli wallet list --verbose

# Or
btcli wallet list --wallet-path <WALLET_PATH>
# For example:
btcli wallet list --wallet-path ~/.bittensor/wallets

4. Next step

References