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Pairing links your mining hotkey to your Cortex account so published findings can be credited to it. Start in Cortex Chat, not in the Cortex CLI. There is no separate Bounty application to open.

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Before you start

  • Use a dedicated mining account. Its conversations and logs may be used for research, fixing bugs and assessing rewards. Do not link a private personal account.
  • Have your hotkey’s SS58 address and a wallet tool that can sign a message with that hotkey.
  • Read the current research terms before deciding whether to participate.
Sending /link does not count as consent. You must explicitly accept the displayed research terms before requesting a signature. If you do not agree, cancel; you can still report a bug without joining Bounty.
1

Start linking in Chat

Sign in to your mining account and send this as a Chat message, replacing the placeholder with your public hotkey address:
If the current terms are already accepted, Chat displays the signing card. Otherwise it first offers the research terms.
2

Review the research terms

Read the displayed title, version and full terms. To participate, select I have read and accept these terms, then Accept terms. The checkbox starts unchecked. Choose Cancel to leave without accepting.After the accepted confirmation, send the same /link message again to request the signing card. Accepting terms does not link your key or sign anything for you.
3

Sign locally with your hotkey

Check the address on the card. Use your wallet tool to sign the complete displayed message, without editing it, using that hotkey rather than your coldkey.
4

Submit only the signature

Paste the hexadecimal signature into the card and submit it. Wait for the linked confirmation before filing a Bounty report.
Never paste a seed phrase, mnemonic, private key or wallet file into Chat or the signing card. The card accepts only a signature. Signing happens in your wallet.

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If linking is refused

One account can link multiple hotkeys; each hotkey belongs to only one account. Repeat the Chat flow for each key. Linking does not register a miner on the subnet, submit a chain transaction, activate a miner conversation or guarantee a reward. Continue with File a report. If your app shows only a terms-required message without an acceptance control, that deployment cannot complete this onboarding flow yet. Do not bypass the consent check or provide a wallet secret to resolve it.