# Helping the network become profitable — what can operators contribute while staying viable? (calculator inside)

**URL:** <https://forum.storj.io/t/helping-the-network-become-profitable-what-can-operators-contribute-while-staying-viable-calculator-inside/32104>\
**Category:** STORJLINGS\
**Created:** [July 30, 2026, 8:58am UTC](https://forum.storj.io/t/helping-the-network-become-profitable-what-can-operators-contribute-while-staying-viable-calculator-inside/32104 "2026-07-30T08:58:59Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
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**Author:** ![ig0rb](https://storj.bcdn.literatehosting.com/user_avatar/forum.storj.io/ig0rb/32/1131_2.png) [@ig0rb](https://forum.storj.io/u/ig0rb)\
**Post date:** [August 8, 2026, 12:25pm UTC](https://forum.storj.io/t/helping-the-network-become-profitable-what-can-operators-contribute-while-staying-viable-calculator-inside/32104/294 "2026-08-08T12:25:26Z")

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Yes, I read the Chapter 11 documents.

The economics here are worth putting into perspective.

Storj lists among its unsecured claims:

- Inveniam Capital Partners: **$4,037,963.40**
- U.S. Treasury / IRS: **$3,741,537.00**
- Georgia Department of Revenue: **$121,642.00**
- “SNO liability”: **$296,316.79**

The filing therefore shows liabilities of several million dollars elsewhere, while the listed SNO liability is only a few hundred thousand dollars.

This is why I think we are asking the wrong question.

Even if **every single node operator agreed to work for free** , how much cash would that actually save Storj per year?

If SNO payouts are already a very small fraction of Storj’s revenue and overall costs, reducing them further does not solve a multimillion-dollar financial problem. It simply shifts more of the burden onto the people providing the storage infrastructure.

Before discussing voluntary reductions — and especially before using this experiment to model permanent payout reductions — Storj should publish one very simple number:

**Total annual SNO payouts as a percentage of total customer revenue.**

Then we can calculate what a 25%, 50% or even 100% reduction would actually accomplish.

Otherwise, asking node operators to work for free risks being little more than **throwing money down the drain while ignoring the much larger numbers on the balance sheet.**

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