Validator Key Backup

TL;DR

Your validator has two different keys doing two different jobs: the operator key (your wallet) and the validator signing key (used for consensus). Back up the operator key. Do not try to "back up" the signing key in a way that lets you run it on two machines - that's a double-sign and ends your validator permanently.

Two different keys

• Operator key - a regular Dilithium3 wallet keypair. Holds your ASE, sends transactions, bonds stake, collects rewards. This is what you back up with a recovery phrase.
• Validator signing key, a separate Dilithium3 keypair bound to your validator slot. Signs block proposals and GRANDPA finality votes. Must only exist on one machine at a time, ever.

Separating them is the point. You can hot-swap or evacuate your operator key for rewards without ever risking the signing key, which is the one that gets you slashed if it's on two machines at once.

What to back up

• Operator recovery phrase - your wallet. Keep offline, duplicated, in different physical locations. See Recovery Phrases.
• Validator pubkey - not secret. Write it down anyway so you can verify on-chain that a new machine is still running your identity.
• Chain state - optional. Useful for faster recovery but not required; a fresh box can re-sync from peers.

How to back up

From the desktop app: Settings → Back up wallet → Show recovery phrase. Write the 24 words down on paper. Store in at least two physically separate locations (home + safe deposit, for example).

From the CLI:

Never email, screenshot, or paste your phrase into a cloud service.

Restoring after a loss

Box died, disk fried, you lost the machine - here's what happens:

1. Confirm the old machine is truly dead - not just "seems down." Running two signers is how you get slashed.
2. Provision a new box and install Asentum (VPS, CLI, or desktop).
3. Restore the operator key from recovery phrase. Your ASE and stake are already on-chain - no migration needed.
4. Restore your existing validator key onto the new machine, and only that one machine. Do not generate a new signing key and do not try to rotate it.

There is no supported way to rotate a validator signing key on the testnet, and no rotateKey transaction to send. Your validator keeps the key it registered with. Rotate operational keys, never validator keys.

What NOT to do

• Don't run two signers at once. Not for failover, not for "high availability," not even briefly. The chain will detect it and slash.
• Don't rotate the validator key. Rotate operational keys, never validator keys: there is no supported validator key rotation on testnet. If a machine dies, restore the same key onto exactly one new box after confirming the old one is dead.
• Don't store the recovery phrase digitally. No iCloud Notes, no password manager, no screenshot. Paper, engraved metal, memorized - that's it.
• Don't skip the backup. The single most common cause of lost funds in crypto is "I was going to back it up later."