Best practice: Run Bitcoin Core on an air‑gapped, dedicated machine for cold storage, or use the wallet only as a hot wallet with modest funds.
: %APPDATA%\Bitcoin\ (typically C:\Users\ \AppData\Roaming\Bitcoin ) macOS : ~/Library/Application Support/Bitcoin/ Linux : ~/.bitcoin/ (note that .bitcoin is a hidden folder) 🛠 How to Use or Restore a wallet.dat File Bitcoin Core Wallet.dat
A local record of all incoming and outgoing transactions associated with your addresses. Best practice: Run Bitcoin Core on an air‑gapped,
The file is typically found in the Bitcoin data directory, which varies by operating system: : %APPDATA%\Bitcoin\ macOS : ~/Library/Application Support/Bitcoin/ Linux : ~/.bitcoin/ Security & Best Practices Bitcoin Core Wallet Recovery | ReWallet Bitcoin Core scrambles the private keys inside the wallet
Keep your active wallet file and at least two backup copies.
Bitcoin Core scrambles the private keys inside the wallet.dat file using AES-256-CBC encryption. Without your passphrase, the file is worthless gibberish.