How to Perform a Cold Key Swap on Testnet and Mainnet: Key Steps and Best Practices

1. Why the Mainnet Launch Is Delayed and What’s New

Today, we’ll walk you through how to initiate a cold key swap request on Testnet. The Mainnet will officially launch at 5:00 PM EST tomorrow. This delay gives everyone the chance to test the swap mechanism on Testnet before proceeding on Mainnet, which helps prevent any errors. Incorrectly handling the cold key swap could lead to a long arbitration process for your keys. During this time, the chain will remain in safe mode until tomorrow.

2. Cold Key Swap Tool

To perform a cold key swap, you can download and install the tool from Python and make a call on Testnet. However, you’ll have to wait for the Mainnet launch to execute the command there. The swap process will require you to input the new cold key address, especially if your old key might be compromised. In this guide, we’ll show you how to perform the swap from your old cold key to a new one.

3. Cold Key Swap Demo with the New Tool

In the demo, I’ll perform a swap from a wallet called "Tanzania" with about 88 tokens at risk. The process involves running the Cold Key Swap method, where you’ll see the wallet’s stake and free balance. If you encounter password issues, no worries—you can use another wallet. I’ll demonstrate using a second wallet named "Bosnia."

The process is simple: call the Wallet Schedule Cold Key Swap, specify the test network (Testnet), and provide the new cold key address. Note that if you’ve already made a swap request, the arbitration process will begin. This is to prevent multiple swap requests, and each subsequent proof-of-work will double in difficulty.

4. Why Attackers Won’t Succeed

There are several reasons why attackers won't succeed. Even if an attacker spends large amounts of money solving the enormous proof-of-work challenges, they still won’t be able to get the network to vote on their keys. They won’t have access to your funds, making their efforts fruitless. Meanwhile, you will still have access to your funds, which makes this process more secure for you.

If you need access to a GPU farm for the proof-of-work, feel free to reach out to the community on Discord for assistance.

5. Hot Key Links and Arbitration Process

When you swap your cold key, all linked hot keys will follow and automatically connect to the new cold key. It's critical to avoid submitting the cold key swap request multiple times, as this could cause your keys to enter arbitration.

After swapping your cold key, you can regenerate assets using NX under the new key, or you can copy the wallet directory from Bittensor to generate a new wallet. Regarding Senate voting and arbitration, once the initial 72-hour period for your key expires, the key enters an arbitrated state and becomes a proposal for the Senate to vote on. When at least 50% of the quorum votes on your key, the swap is completed.

6. Key Takeaways for Cold Key Swap

Make sure you have at least one Tow on your old cold key before swapping to the new one, even if the new cold key has zero funds. If you have any concerns or questions, reach out to the community on Discord or contact us directly for assistance.

Source : @Opentensor Foundation