Substratum is a project aiming to power the decentralized web by allowing free and equal internet access to users around the globe. The project promises to allow anyone to host a node and receive Substrate in return for contributing to the network. Currently the product is in closed-beta allowing only a select few participants, supposedly under an NDA, to test out the network.

Substratum’s price rose from $0.30 to over $2.50 in the last month alone, heading straight to the moon. However, due to some rumors that have surfaced from 4chan about SUB’s CEO and their team, the steady climb has been interrupted. In this article we will discuss the FACTS about Justin Tabb, Substratum’s CEO and put the rumors to rest.

Substratum CEO’s background

The first rumor that surfaced about the Substratum project is that Justin Tabb, Substratum’s CEO, has a criminal record. According to Polk county Sherrif’s public records

Upon reaching out to Justin for comment, the full picture is not what you might expect. The reason for the Burglary and Assault charge was because Mr. Tabb broken down the door and beat down a man who sexually assaulted his sister.

“I was arrested for beating up the man who sexually assaulted my sister after kicking his door in. 17 years ago.”

While the CEO being an ex Felon is by no means a positive influence on the project, it is something that can be looked past. After all, the charges were filed 17 years ago and his actions are justified from a moral perspective.

Bankruptcy

There also have been rumors about Substratum’s CEO filing for bankruptcy. The facts of the matter are that it was Abram Cookson, Substratum CIO (Chief Information Officer) who filed for bankruptcy. Mr. Cookson has nothing to do with the financial part of the company, which means that these news should be irrelevant.

Datadash Drama

Many of you may have heard about Substratum from Datadash’s youtube channel. Datadash is the largest crypto youtube channel with over 200k subscribers. The channel promotes all types of ICOs and tokens and gives insight into developing projects.

In a series of videos, Datadash promoted the Substratum ICO and advised about its potential. However, it recently came to light that Datadash has been compensated for his efforts by the Substratum team.

According to Mr. Tabb:

“DataDash was paid a one time fee for his first video on Substratum and never again.”

Datadash also posted a youtube video explaining exactly what happened. I do believe the video was a smart decision by Datadash to come clean to his viewers. In his video, Datadash claims that he lost access to the 100k SUB that are sitting in his Ethereum wallet.

In recent developments, Mr. Tabb said that they were able to recover the 100k SUB and that the plan is for DataDash aka Nicholas Merten to donate the SUB to a charity.

Overall Substratum has an amazing vision with a promising project, however until a working product is presented nothing is certain.