# Node Wallet

The node wallet (aka mining key) provides a miner with their:

* **mining address**: where mining rewards are sent
* **packing address**: used to prepare data for mining (same as mining address)
* **signing key**: private key used to sign blocks when a mining solution is found

For more information on how mining works see: [How Mining Works](/developers/mining/overview/mining.md)

{% hint style="danger" %}
If you lose your node wallet you will not be able to access your mining rewards or sign new blocks. We strongly recommend you backup your node wallet.
{% endhint %}

The node wallet is stored in `[data_dir]/wallets` and is required for all [node types](/developers/mining/overview/node-types.md). If one is not present when the node first launches, it will be automatically created. If you're not running a miner it is probably fine to rely on this automatically created wallet. For miners, however, we recommend creating or importing your wallet explicitly.

You can create a wallet with the provided `wallet` tool:

```sh
./bin/arweave wallet create rsa [data_dir]
```

This script will create the wallet and place it in the `[data_dir]/wallets` directory. See [Directory Structure](/developers/mining/getting-started/directory-structure.md) for more information on setting your `data_dir`.

Reward keys may also be `secp256k1` (ECDSA) since the 2.9 hard fork — substitute `ecdsa` for `rsa` above. See [ECDSA Keys](/developers/development/overview/ecdsa-keys.md) for details.

If you want to use an existing wallet, place it in `[data_dir]/wallets`. Imported wallets must bin in `.json` format and be named `arweave_keyfile_ADDRESS.json` where `ADDRESS` is the address associated with the wallet.

Note: when using [coordinated mining](/developers/mining/overview/coordinated-mining.md), the wallet only needs to be present on the exit node.

{% hint style="danger" %}
Make sure to never share you wallet with anyone.
{% endhint %}


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