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# Operators

Operators provide hardware infrastructure, run the SSV protocol, and are responsible for maintaining the overall health of ssv.network. Operators determine their own fees and are compensated for their integral services to the network by operating and maintaining validators on-behalf of stakers.

### Operator Onboarding

To join the network as an operator a user must run an SSV node.
This is software containing the SSV protocol implementation and integration to the network’s smart contracts.
This can be done by installing the node software on a machine followed by registering the operator either through the smart contract or webapp interface.

#### Operator Fee

Operators set their own fees - denominated in SSV tokens - to be charged per each validator that selects them as one of their operators.
Operator earnings are paid to their account balance, and can be withdrawn to their wallet at any time.
Fee Configuration
Operators initially set their fee when registering an operator to the network.
Fees are presented as annual payments, but in practice are paid to operators continuously as an ongoing process - per each passed block.
This means that when setting the operator fee through the smart contract (whether at registration or fee updates), operators should set their preferred fee according to a fee per block format.
• To calculate fee per block according to a desired annual fee in fiat (USD):
$Fee\;per\;block = \frac{Annuel\;Fee_{usd}}{SSV_{usd}}\;/\;Blocks_{year}$
• Legend
• $Annual\;Fee_{usd}$
- desired fee per year in USD
• $SSV_{usd}$
- \$SSV price in USD
• $Blocks_{year}$
- avg. number of blocks per year (reference)