# Creating a New Wallet

If the Smartnode services are up and running, the next step is to set up an ETH1 wallet for your node. This is simply an ETH1 address that will hold your node's funds - it will use this to send ETH to your minipool when you begin staking, pay for gas during various transactions, and other various operations.

You have the option of either creating a brand new wallet from scratch, or importing / recovering an existing wallet or address. Please choose which option you'd like from the tabs below.

NOTE

As of the current build, Rocket Pool needs to have access to your wallet's private key in order to perform its automatic duties. This means that the private key will exist in a file on your machine. If an attacker manages to gain access to your machine, they could gain access to your node wallet and steal all of the tokens that it contains! Please ensure that you have followed the security guide in the Securing your Node section before you continue, and are comfortable with your security posture.