diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 6b0d433ff8d..3535a88f881 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -4560,7 +4560,7 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "tari_mining_node"
-version = "0.11.0"
+version = "0.11.1"
 dependencies = [
  "bufstream",
  "chrono",
diff --git a/applications/tari_mining_node/Cargo.toml b/applications/tari_mining_node/Cargo.toml
index 28f7c324f48..dadd9d1edc6 100644
--- a/applications/tari_mining_node/Cargo.toml
+++ b/applications/tari_mining_node/Cargo.toml
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ authors = ["The Tari Development Community"]
 description = "The tari mining node implementation"
 repository = "https://github.com/tari-project/tari"
 license = "BSD-3-Clause"
-version = "0.11.0"
+version = "0.11.1"
 edition = "2018"
 
 [dependencies]
diff --git a/applications/tari_mining_node/src/main.rs b/applications/tari_mining_node/src/main.rs
index 093e087ae80..2de68f4ccb8 100644
--- a/applications/tari_mining_node/src/main.rs
+++ b/applications/tari_mining_node/src/main.rs
@@ -47,9 +47,13 @@ use std::{
     time::Instant,
 };
 use tari_app_grpc::tari_rpc::{base_node_client::BaseNodeClient, wallet_client::WalletClient};
-use tari_app_utilities::{initialization::init_configuration, utilities::ExitCodes};
+use tari_app_utilities::{
+    initialization::init_configuration,
+    utilities::{ExitCodes, ExitCodes::ConfigError},
+};
 use tari_common::{configuration::bootstrap::ApplicationType, ConfigBootstrap, DefaultConfigLoader, GlobalConfig};
 use tari_core::blocks::BlockHeader;
+use tari_crypto::{ristretto::RistrettoPublicKey, tari_utilities::hex::Hex};
 use tokio::{runtime::Runtime, time::sleep};
 use tonic::transport::Channel;
 use utils::{coinbase_request, extract_outputs_and_kernels};
@@ -82,6 +86,8 @@ async fn main_inner() -> Result<(), ExitCodes> {
     if !config.mining_wallet_address.is_empty() && !config.mining_pool_address.is_empty() {
         let url = config.mining_pool_address.clone();
         let mut miner_address = config.mining_wallet_address.clone();
+        let _ = RistrettoPublicKey::from_hex(&miner_address)
+            .map_err(|_| ConfigError("Miner is not configured with a valid wallet address.".to_string()))?;
         if !config.mining_worker_name.is_empty() {
             miner_address += &format!("{}{}", ".", &config.mining_worker_name);
         }