diff --git a/cmd/kaspawallet/daemon/client/client.go b/cmd/kaspawallet/daemon/client/client.go
index 93718f0a7..487965b69 100644
--- a/cmd/kaspawallet/daemon/client/client.go
+++ b/cmd/kaspawallet/daemon/client/client.go
@@ -1,14 +1,26 @@
 package client
 
 import (
+	"context"
+	"time"
+
+	"github.com/pkg/errors"
+
 	"github.com/kaspanet/kaspad/cmd/kaspawallet/daemon/pb"
 	"google.golang.org/grpc"
 )
 
 // Connect connects to the kaspawalletd server, and returns the client instance
 func Connect(address string) (pb.KaspawalletdClient, func(), error) {
-	conn, err := grpc.Dial(address, grpc.WithInsecure(), grpc.WithBlock())
+	// Connection is local, so 1 second timeout is sufficient
+	ctx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(context.Background(), time.Second)
+	defer cancel()
+
+	conn, err := grpc.DialContext(ctx, address, grpc.WithInsecure(), grpc.WithBlock())
 	if err != nil {
+		if errors.Is(err, context.DeadlineExceeded) {
+			return nil, nil, errors.New("kaspactl daemon is not running, start it with `kaspactl start-daemon`")
+		}
 		return nil, nil, err
 	}