Open Letter to the Storj Community and Team

Node Operators FAQ
1

I’ve been with Storj since 2018.
Six long years — running my nodes, upgrading hardware, paying for storage, inverters, and batteries just to keep them alive — even while rockets fly over my city.

Yesterday, Russia bombed Ukraine again.
The entire country went dark for a full day — a total blackout.
No power, no internet, no light. And yet, even during that, many of us in Ukraine kept our Storj nodes running on batteries and generators. Because we believe in decentralization, in resilience, in freedom.

But here’s what truly breaks me:
While we struggle to keep the network alive under shelling, Russian nodes are thriving.

According to the latest data:

№ Country Nodes %ISP Subnets %ISP Avg. ?
1 :russia: Russia 4697 25% 1867 26% 2.5
2 :germany: Germany 4429 22% 2285 22% 1.9
3 :united_states: USA 2904 52% 1492 49% 1.9
9 :ukraine: Ukraine 689 62% 407 63% 1.7

Russia ranks #1 in Storj nodes worldwide.
4,697 nodes — from the same country that’s been bombing, murdering, and terrorizing my people for over four years.
Thousands of active nodes, still receiving payouts, still fully integrated in the same network that’s supposed to stand for freedom and decentralization.

I’m not asking for pity.
I’m asking for justice.

  • I pay for electricity that’s become 6× more expensive.
  • I buy batteries and inverters to survive blackouts.
  • I repair my servers after air strikes.
  • And I do all this just to keep Storj alive in my country.

Meanwhile, those same Russians — living safely, untouched by bombs — keep earning rewards from a global project built on values they spit on every day.

This is not neutrality.
This is enabling an aggressor.

I’ve respected Storj for years.
But it’s time to face a moral question:
Should Storj continue paying a country that funds genocide and destruction?

So I’m asking the Storj team, and the entire decentralized community:

:locked: Block Russian IPs.
:money_bag: Stop payouts to Russian wallets.
:prohibited: Deny new nodes from Russia.

If there are some “good Russians” among them — we’ll deal with that later.
Right now, it’s about doing what’s right.

Storj has always stood for freedom, transparency, and humanity.
Now it’s time to prove it.

Show that justice matters — not just performance metrics.
Because while we sit in darkness, they profit from it.

:ukraine:
Petro
Storj Node Operator, Ukraine — since 2018

16 Likes
2

Petro,

Nobody’s questioning that life in Ukraine is hard right now. You’ve shown serious dedication keeping your nodes alive through blackouts — respect for that.

But let’s not confuse personal hardship with network governance.

Storj isn’t a moral court. It’s a decentralized storage network. It doesn’t know your nationality, your politics, or what’s flying over your city — and that’s exactly how it should be.

Storj doesn’t pay “Russia.” It pays nodes that do their job. The same protocol that lets you contribute from Ukraine is the one that lets someone contribute from Russia. You don’t get to enjoy decentralization when it benefits you and demand central control when it offends you.

You’re asking Storj to start acting like a government — blocking IPs, freezing wallets, deciding who’s “worthy.” That’s the fast track to turning this project into just another centralized, permissioned service with moral lectures on the side. If that’s what people want, there are plenty of Web2 companies happy to play that game.

Decentralization means no politics. No favoritism. No border checks. Just math and uptime.

That’s what gives it credibility — and it’s not negotiable.

You can be proud of your resilience without demanding that the network pick sides in your war. Storj’s job isn’t to deliver justice; it’s to deliver data.

( I used ai to smooth the corners of my post because of topic sensitivity, and my strong feeling about inappropriateness of topics like yours)

20 Likes
3

Storj Inc. is a private company with an obligation of pursuing what is the company’s best interest (assuming that raising money through token sales passes the Howey Test, which seems to be an interpretation accepted by Storj Inc.) under any constraints coming from law. This usually means profit, long-term value, stakeholder interests, etc. but also social responsibility.

There are no legal requirements for social responsibility though. If there is pressure, it comes from company reputation that might be tarnished by contact or coöperation with certain entities. Imagine, for example, onboarding a large brand that left Russia in 2022, made a huge campaign around this move, and then a journalist tracks down that they are hosting data in Russia through Storj. This kind of risk needs to be evaluated by Storj Inc. And then it will not matter that the network is supposed to be “decentralized”—what will matter is that Storj will have a hard time attracting other large customers.

And on top of that, Russia’s government numerously warned that they may choose to disconnect Russia networks from the global internet. Then the current state becomes a big technological risk for Storj’s decentralization. Because, well, if you think of it, having 25% of nodes covering 15% of Storj subnects in a single country is not exactly the kind of decentralization we hope for, right?

Disclaimer: I live in Poland, and while in theory we have NATO guarantees, in the past allies has already failed us. Current American government has recently made many statements that are not exactly reassuring either. And we have a border with Russia. Make of it what you will.

5 Likes
4

If I demanded Storj take an entire country of SNOs offline: and to deal with the “good ones” later… my post would be deleted as against Community Guidelines in about 1 minute. How does this even-more-political post still exist?

This isn’t the place. And Storj isn’t the entity to police governments.

9 Likes
7

I fully agree.

Well it can raise questions too. Don’t forget that Russia is being sanctioned and valid questions are why Storj operation relies heavily on nodes of that sanctioned country, why that country is number one in the number of nodes per country, who controls these nodes and how does Storj ensure that the tokens sent to Russia are not circumventing any sanctions?

Also credibility and reputation can be gained from pulling out from Russia. There is already pressure building up and companies exposed if they are still doing business in and with Russia, e.g. like here: https://www.coalitionforukraine.com/

5 Likes
8

If there are questions about circumventing sanctions, that is for a court of law to decide.
Strongly agree with @arrogantrabbit (who did sound unusually tame in his post until he admitted to having used AI to tone it down!) that we can’t defend decentralisation when it suits us and curtail it when it offends us.
If storj is doing something illegal, then it should stop. If not, then it should remain agnostic as is the network’s point (although I completely inderstand people’s possible unease)

6 Likes
9

Storj has mitigated against this risk at the time by tweaking the network to ensure no file would require wholly Russian nodes to be reconstructed. Not sure if that is still the case but they’re a bunch of very smart cookies at that company so I’m pretty sure they’ve considered this. :slightly_smiling_face:

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10

But you could argue that Storj isn’t “doing business with Russia” as such.
It’s not like there are Storj offices there or a Storj Store. Storj pays all nodes equally based solely on their performance, regardless of where they may be. Technically, Storj doesn’t even know where the nodes are. Only where they appear to be connecting from.

I take your point that in the spirit of it they’re “operating in Russia” but you can argue it both ways and it’s not nearly as clear cut as, say, Decathlon or Auchan or other big multinationals with a physical and legal footprint there.

6 Likes
11

Not discussing politics in this forum is a wise move

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12

I understand and respect that point.
But when bombs destroy infrastructure and kill civilians, it stops being “politics” — it becomes a moral issue that affects real Storj operators and the stability of the network itself.

I’m not here to argue about ideology.
I’m here because one side’s aggression literally shuts down nodes, data centers, and lives.
If decentralization means anything — it’s about standing up for what’s right, not just staying silent.

2 Likes
14

Storj can stay apolitical — but not amoral.
When 25% of nodes are in a country bombing another, that’s not “just decentralization.”
That’s a business and ethical risk hiding behind neutrality.

2 Likes
15

This is not about politics — it’s about war and real business risks.
Russia is currently under U.S. and EU sanctions, and that raises a fair question:

Could Storj Inc. itself fall under secondary sanctions
if a significant part of its infrastructure — Russian nodes — continues to receive token payouts?

This isn’t just a moral issue — it’s a legal and reputational risk for the company, its investors, and partners.
Today it’s “just decentralization,”
but tomorrow it could be a frozen wallet, an OFAC investigation, or a damaged brand.

And beyond the business side — nothing cancels the fact that Russia keeps bombing Ukraine,
leaving cities in blackouts and people without power or communication.
While Ukrainian node operators keep their systems running on batteries under air raids,
those from Russia — the country causing these blackouts — keep earning money from the same network.

So no, this isn’t politics.
It’s reality — one that threatens both people and the network itself.

2 Likes
16

What about Gaza, Palestine, which is backed by Israel and the United States? There should be no operator nodes in the United States or countries that support Israel due to the ongoing war crimes. What contribution has Storj made to Gaza?

Look, my friend, introducing politics into this forum is an unwise move. Don’t let this forum become a political forum.

It’s better for us to focus on storj in the future, devote our energy to building storj, I think that’s a more appropriate and wise step.

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17

Perhaps it is time to modify the forum rules to prevent any political discussions in here as it really is inappropriate.
And perhaps mods should close this and OP can take this to Reddit.

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20

That is, here you only want to talk about what is convenient for you and reject everything that is inconvenient to answer?

These cliched fem-titles have no basis. This forum is not a place for political discussions. There is no need to attract politics to places where it was not asked.

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21

My suggestion to Storj Labs is to stop payments to Russian based nodes asap. They can participate, but no need to fuel that war economy. Earned money can be accumulated and payed out after the war.

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22

So, Ukraine is a serious matter and the genocide in Gaza is not that serious?

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23

He just doesn’t want his node to die, that’s all he cares about.