# Incentivizing (Old topic, but still)

**URL:** https://forum.algorand.co/t/incentivizing-old-topic-but-still/8483
**Category:** General
**Tags:** community, mainnet, teal, smart-contracts, developer
**Created:** [December 11, 2022, 6:03pm UTC](https://forum.algorand.co/t/incentivizing-old-topic-but-still/8483 "2022-12-11T18:03:35Z")
**Posts on this page:** 1
**Showing post:** 1

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### Author: ![Domenico](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Domenico](https://forum.algorand.co/u/Domenico)
#### Post date: [December 11, 2022, 6:03pm UTC](https://forum.algorand.co/t/incentivizing-old-topic-but-still/8483/1 "2022-12-11T18:03:35Z")

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How does Algorand plan on keeping the network secure without rewarding relay and participation node runners in the long run?  
Yeah, I get Silvio believes it keeps bad actors at bay without having an incentive, but realistically, no one is going to run nodes for free long term, especially if it actually cost money to run them. running a node basically becomes a utlility bill. without incentivizing node runners, I think the network will have a security risk, especially if it loses decentralization to long term node runners shutting down when they arent making money running a node.  
Eventually people will run participation nodes for so long til they do the math and see its a waste of time not earning anything. especially if competitors are paying node runners. In order for Algorand to become more decentralized, they need to incentivized the node runners. we all know this. I’m not saying anything new. So, I am really interested to see what happens in 2023 with the node situation.

Incentivizing node runners involves risk, but so does not incentivizing. Now if they wanna have more institutions around the world to run relay nodes, im all for it, but even they wont do it for free, so why should retail do it for free. doesnt matter if participation nodes are cheaper and easier to run, the point is, it still cost money to run a node. if it didnt cost anything to run a node, then I would see the point of not incentivizing.

Just a thought, what if Algorand allowed relay nodes to make pools with participation nodes and reward all the node runners whenever that relay node was selected. the relay node would get 30% of the reward and the other 70% goes to the participation nodes.

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