diff --git a/BTCPayServer.Tests/GreenfieldAPITests.cs b/BTCPayServer.Tests/GreenfieldAPITests.cs
index b7d791b41..f651a60a6 100644
--- a/BTCPayServer.Tests/GreenfieldAPITests.cs
+++ b/BTCPayServer.Tests/GreenfieldAPITests.cs
@@ -4122,7 +4122,12 @@ namespace BTCPayServer.Tests
             var resp = await tester.CustomerLightningD.Pay(inv.BOLT11);
             Assert.Equal(PayResult.Ok, resp.Result);
 
-
+            var store = tester.PayTester.GetService<StoreRepository>();
+            Assert.True(await store.InternalNodePayoutAuthorized(admin.StoreId));
+            Assert.False(await store.InternalNodePayoutAuthorized("blah"));
+            await admin.MakeAdmin(false);
+            Assert.False(await store.InternalNodePayoutAuthorized(admin.StoreId));
+            await admin.MakeAdmin(true);
 
             var customerInvoice = await tester.CustomerLightningD.CreateInvoice(LightMoney.FromUnit(10, LightMoneyUnit.Satoshi),
                 Guid.NewGuid().ToString(), TimeSpan.FromDays(40));
diff --git a/BTCPayServer/PayoutProcessors/Lightning/LightningAutomatedPayoutProcessor.cs b/BTCPayServer/PayoutProcessors/Lightning/LightningAutomatedPayoutProcessor.cs
index 3cbe97a70..d604fb77c 100644
--- a/BTCPayServer/PayoutProcessors/Lightning/LightningAutomatedPayoutProcessor.cs
+++ b/BTCPayServer/PayoutProcessors/Lightning/LightningAutomatedPayoutProcessor.cs
@@ -121,12 +121,7 @@ public class LightningAutomatedPayoutProcessor : BaseAutomatedPayoutProcessor<Li
 		var processorBlob = GetBlob(PayoutProcessorSettings);
         var lightningSupportedPaymentMethod = (LightningPaymentMethodConfig)paymentMethodConfig;
         if (lightningSupportedPaymentMethod.IsInternalNode &&
-            !(await Task.WhenAll((await _storeRepository.GetStoreUsers(PayoutProcessorSettings.StoreId))
-                .Where(user =>
-                    user.StoreRole.ToPermissionSet(PayoutProcessorSettings.StoreId)
-                        .Contains(Policies.CanModifyStoreSettings, PayoutProcessorSettings.StoreId))
-                .Select(user => user.Id)
-                .Select(s => _userService.IsAdminUser(s)))).Any(b => b))
+            !await _storeRepository.InternalNodePayoutAuthorized(PayoutProcessorSettings.StoreId))
         {
             return false;
         }
diff --git a/BTCPayServer/Services/Stores/StoreRepository.cs b/BTCPayServer/Services/Stores/StoreRepository.cs
index 020bad515..277dd1423 100644
--- a/BTCPayServer/Services/Stores/StoreRepository.cs
+++ b/BTCPayServer/Services/Stores/StoreRepository.cs
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ using BTCPayServer.Client;
 using BTCPayServer.Data;
 using BTCPayServer.Events;
 using BTCPayServer.Migrations;
+using Dapper;
 using Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore;
 using NBitcoin;
 using NBitcoin.DataEncoders;
@@ -637,6 +638,23 @@ retry:
         {
             return ex.InnerException is Npgsql.PostgresException postgres && postgres.SqlState == "40P01";
         }
+
+        public async Task<bool> InternalNodePayoutAuthorized(string storeId)
+        {
+            using var ctx = _ContextFactory.CreateContext();
+            return (await ctx.Database.GetDbConnection().ExecuteScalarAsync<bool?>("""
+                SELECT TRUE
+                FROM "UserStore" us
+                JOIN "StoreRoles" sr ON sr."Id" = us."Role"
+                JOIN "AspNetUserRoles" ur ON us."ApplicationUserId" = ur."UserId"
+                JOIN "AspNetRoles" r ON ur."RoleId" = r."Id"
+                WHERE
+                      us."StoreDataId"=@storeId AND
+                      r."NormalizedName"='SERVERADMIN' AND
+                      'btcpay.store.canmodifystoresettings' = ANY(sr."Permissions")
+                LIMIT 1;
+                """, new { storeId })) is true;
+        }
     }
 
     public record StoreRoleId
diff --git a/BTCPayServer/Services/UserService.cs b/BTCPayServer/Services/UserService.cs
index 9b8bffb0d..1496c3fb5 100644
--- a/BTCPayServer/Services/UserService.cs
+++ b/BTCPayServer/Services/UserService.cs
@@ -160,13 +160,6 @@ namespace BTCPayServer.Services
             return res.Succeeded;
         }
 
-        public async Task<bool> IsAdminUser(string userId)
-        {
-            using var scope = _serviceProvider.CreateScope();
-            var userManager = scope.ServiceProvider.GetRequiredService<UserManager<ApplicationUser>>();
-            return Roles.HasServerAdmin(await userManager.GetRolesAsync(new ApplicationUser() { Id = userId }));
-        }
-
         public async Task<bool> IsAdminUser(ApplicationUser user)
         {
             using var scope = _serviceProvider.CreateScope();