It seems leaders of the cult like community in Substratum have been getting upset lately over articles that don’t paint them in a positive light.

Must be new, not really.

Fear not, for as Phaedrus said, “Things are not always what they seem; the first appearance deceives many; the intelligence of a few perceives what has been carefully hidden.”

Initial Thoughts

Substratum has been releasing a ton of good news lately for the people still supporting it. Recently, the CEO was given a 1 paragraph feature in Cointelegraph (WOW), and weekly “Show and Tell” updates show that production V1 is.. no clue as to being finished.

But, that’s not it!

A contributor for TG Daily, Jimmy Pham, released an article titled, “Substratum: Under the Hood” on March 29, 2019. In the article, it goes over many things including how Substratum is using “modern technologies like the Blockchain to deliver solutions to the internet censorship problem”.

Apart from several buzzwords we’ve become accustomed to with typical price-positive Substratum press, this statement is completely false.

Let’s dive into this recent press release and look at things in an objective light.

Does Substratum Use Blockchain Technology?

Yes, it does for fundraising and processing micro-payments on the network for serving requests and hosting. However, the economic model behind node and host rewards, has been described at best as being “up in the air”.

Substratum wants to use a pool of 60 million SUB to “kickstart” the network. Essentially, this allocation of 60 million SUB will serve as a “bank” for the network. Furthermore, it will be the source for micro-payments and users serving requests and hosting on the Substratum Network.

However, in no way, shape or form, does Substratum use blockchain for it’s networking layer. The extent of blockchain technology that is being used is strictly for micro-payments and fundraising. Any argument against this, is well, just false.

Current Financial State

Substratum’s financial state is bleak. After raising roughly $14 million, they only have $600k to show for it. Surprisingly enough, community moderators seem to think having only $600k left in funds for development is OK.

Examining the ICO contribution wallets, show many things to support this claim.

BTC: Empty

LTC: Empty

BCH: Empty

XRP: Empty

ETH: Only 4,399 ETH left

In reality, $600k in ETH may seem like a lot, however, doing the math, shows that it isn’t. At this rate, Substratum will not be able to sustain themselves long term.

At a calculated monthly burn rate of $150,000 based on the team’s monthly ETH liquidation’s, Substratum will only be able to sustain themselves for 3-4 months max.

Furthermore, with less than $10k daily 24 hour volume, Substratum is as good as dead.

How Has The Community Reacted to This?

In short, it’s all peachy in Substratumland. Having only $600k left in funds for development is perfectly fine. There’s been a long standing allegation that any criticism warranted towards Substratum is “just FUD from 2 people”.

Let’s take some time to view some of the comments Substratum warriors have left on my blog.

Nothing to see here folks, just all peachy.

Conclusion

In the next 3-4 months, funds are going to become a major problem for Substratum. The community does not see this as a problem and even recommend to each other to “buy more cheap”.

Substratum’s community resembles that of a modern day cult. This is probably going to be my last post on Substratum as it’s completly REKT and dead.

Stay careful out there, use your brain.