pTABLE OF CONTENTS SECTIONS PGIntroduction21. nbsp;The Decentralized Web22. nbsp;The Substratum Network33. nbsp;Substratum Host44. nbsp;Substratum Node55. nbsp;Substrate Coins and CryptoPay66. The Web User87. Substratum ICO98. US Participation109. The Future of Substratum1010. Who We Are11.null nbsp;1SubstratumWhitepaperIntroduction nbsp;Substratum is creating an open-source foundation for a decentralized web which will provide unrestricted access to content and sharing of ination for users across the globe. Our mission is to bring forth the free and fair internet of the future by combining proven technological building blocks with emergent technologies in an innovative and holistic way to help solve many of the problems that plague the modern internet. Substratum will gain mass adoption by revolutionizing the hosting industry with per-request billing via micro-transactions and incentivizing users to run nodes to create the network by paying node hosts in Substrate. This is all being managed by blockchain technology and machine learning. Section 1 nbsp;THE DECENTRALIZED WEB Current Internet and Issues at Play The current version of the web, how we currently experience the internet has become increasingly centralized, censored and faced many controls. Data must travel through designated hardware access points usually servers and hubs. This causes access points to become hacking targets to anyone seeking user’s personal data. Aside from cybersecurity issues, there is also the issue of net neutrality. Net neutrality is the idea that Internet Service Providers ISPs should not be allowed to slow service to specific sites, or be able to block content and applications that flow through that network. nbsp;.null nbsp;2“Just a few large plats drive most traffic to online news sources in the U.S., and thus have enormous influence over what sources of ination the public consumes on a daily basis. The existence of these consolidated points of control is troubling for many reasons. A small number of stakeholders end up having outsized influence over the content the public can create and consume. This leads to problems ranging from censorship at the behest of national governments to more subtle, perhaps even unintentional, bias in the curation of content users see based on opaque, unaudited curation algorithms. The plats that host our networked public sphere and in us about the world are unelected, unaccountable, and often impossible to audit or oversee.” The Decentralized Web The decentralized web or Web 3.0 is a web controlled by independent and privately owned computers that allow for a web experience that is both secure and open. This means that everyone can access all ination and services on the internet without inational gatekeepers, ISP interference as well as being resistant to corporate or governmental surveillance and restrictions. nbsp;A decentralized web will create a free and open web for everyone in the world by making sure that anyone in the world can access content with no interference from corporations or governmental agencies. When net neutrality, data breaches and cybersecurity are growing concerns to the general public, the call for a community-oriented web experience is now stronger than ever. .null nbsp;3Section 2 nbsp;THE SUBSTRATUM NETWORK The Substratum Network combines innovative technologies from the cryptocurrency, and community hosting realms to not only usher in a free, peer-to-peer internet, but to revolutionize the hosting industry. The Substratum Network is made up of nodesnetworks of peer-to-peer computerswho then can deliver secure content anywhere using industry-leading cryptography, effectively ending the need for VPNs and Tor. It changes web hosting by incentivizing network users with its own cryptocurrency token to essentially rent out their unused computing resources as a hosting plat for websites. Hosting costs are billed through per-request micro-transactions, inhibiting the payment of unutilized resources. One of the biggest frustrations of the decentralized web and its users is that it isn’t always easy for those who aren’t technically inclined. Part of the beauty of the Substratum Network is that you don’t need any additional software or a special browser to run it. The network integrates into existing internet frameworks, meaning the end user won’t have to change the ways in which they interact with the web. nbsp;Substratum provides a for serving decentralized content through a Mac, Windows, and Linux application service that is easy to install and run requires no technical expertise and serves up decentralized content using the toolkit that we have developed. By allowing millions of Substratum Network users to serve content the biggest concern becomes privacy and security. Substratum solves these issues through advanced cryptography algorithms rooted in Artificial Intelligence that ensures all data remains .null nbsp;4secure. Following the lead of BitCoin, this is the strength of cryptocurrency and the crypto movement. Substratum will become a fully open-sourced project upon launching version 2 in the beginning of 2018. This means that the source code will be available to anyone for redistribution or modification. The reason we are waiting, is to ensure our compression and cryptographic algorithms are solid before we take the project open-source. The Substratum Network will provide an API and SDK for developing tools and applications directly on the Substratum Plat. Adding this feature allows for a strong developer presence and an extensive support network while simultaneously accelerating the growth of the decentralized web on the Substratum Network. .null nbsp;5Section 3 nbsp;SUBSTRATUM HOST The SubstratumHost component of the networkSubstratum will completely change the ways that we approach web hosting. Currently, web hosting consists of paying a company to store a website’s files on a server connected to the internet. Pricing is typically structured around first buying a domain name for example http// is a domain name. Then, a monthly price is set based on how much bandwidth and computing resources you need to run the site. For small, personal websites shared hostingsharing space on a server with other sites will usually suffice. For businesses and larger enterprises with a complex site and a lot of traffic must use either VPS Virtual Private Servers or cloud hosting. VPS hosting involves paying a hosting company for dedicated use to their servers whereas cloud hosting such as AWS Amazon Web Services involves only renting the space you need on a “virtual” server instead of a paying to use physical one. nbsp;The primary issue with web hosting in its current is that is incredibly expensive It can cost upwards thousands of dollars per month solely to host the site filesthis doesn’t include any maintenance costs or additional security. This makes it incredibly difficult for small or medium sized businesses to have a strong web presence without incurring significant costs. nbsp;Other less prent issues include a lack of transparency regarding uptime the time a hosting company can guarantee a site to be online, the need for additional software, lack of reliable security, slow load times based on server location as well as privacy and resource limitations CPU, RAM, etc.. nbsp;Substratum aims to resolve these common issues in the following ways nbsp;.null nbsp;61. nbsp;Drastically reducing hosting costs through peer-to-peer hosting that is billed per request through micro-transactions. This means that you will only be billed when people go to your site as opposed to per minute or hour like AWS and other cloud hosting plats. nbsp;As each request comes through the amount of CPU power, Network Bandwidth and the amount of data are calculated and once a threshold of 1 ATOM is reached a micro-transaction will take place between the HOST and the NODE and Substrate will be transferred. The result of all of this is that since you only pay for what you use the cost is reduced. Calculations are being worked to get an exact fee matrix but we will without a doubt be less expensive than current industry standard hosting. 2. In order to serve millions of sites, databases and applications, the Substratum Network uses advanced compression algorithms, geolocation and machine learning to direct the right combination of Substratum Network nodes to serve content to the intended user based on location. nbsp;This will ensure the fastest load times with the lowest amount of latency/strain on the Substratum Network, the serving machine and the receiving machine. 3. Due to Substratum’s peer-to-peer network, websites will never experience downtime. nbsp;4. We serve Substratum Requests directly to the default browser Safari, Firefox, Chrome, Internet Explorer without any special software installed on the average consuming users computer. 5. Substratum uses cryptography, compression algorithms and the peer-to-peer network itself to send data in small, encrypted pieces so your data and content is always safe. nbsp;6. Substratum allows site owners to keep their domain names without using a subdomain name example http// 7. Substratum hosts sites that can be accessed by both the centralized and decentralized web. nbsp;.null nbsp;78. SubstratumHost will have an easy to use Control Panel similar to CPanel or PHPMyAdmin that will allow you to manage your content as a web host. nbsp;Upon launch, Substratum will support the following languages and libraries nbsp; HTML/CSS JavaScript jQuery, Bootstrap PHP/MySQL Wordpress, Magento, Joomla ASP.NET nbsp;Python Django More will be added in future versions such as Ruby/Ruby on Rails. Section 4 nbsp;SUBSTRATUM NODE SubstratumNode is the actual network of computers that link all of Substratum’s interactions. It will allow anyone to become a web host and earn Substratum’s own cryptocurrency while the user is hosting. Users do not need any Substrate Tokens to run a SubstratumNode. They only need a valid Substrate Wallet Address supported through Ethereum to send your Substrate at your designated payout periods. Through an easy-to-use, UI interface the user can easily control how much CPU, GPU and RAM they want to let Substratum use. The user can control what times and days of the week they want to allow hosting. This allows your node makes the most money possible for you when you aren’t working but doesn’t disturb you when you are working. .null nbsp;8 Network Members that run our broadcast software will receive SUB coins by serving requests. This increases global participation and will bring value to Substrate. In order to run SubstratumNode on your computer, users only need to have ports 80 HTTP and 443 HTTPS open to run a node. These ports will automatically be opened in the setup process. The Substratum host will be simple to setup and run. nbsp;.null nbsp;9SubstratumDNS DNS Domain Name System DNS or the Domain Name System is the naming system that currently tells your browser where to go when you type in a domain name. For instance when someone types http// into the address bar, a DNS lookup is pered to check where to send the request. Then the DNS system returns a unique IP address where the request can be routed. The first version of SubstratumDNS will be a complex, AI enabled DNS server that will receive DNS requests along with the geolocation of the requestor and find the closest available SubstratumNode able to fulfill the request. nbsp;SubstratumDNS runs on both the distributed and decentralized web through a system bridge. It uses the existing DNS framework of the internet to deliver content to default browsers and allows the user to keep their domain name; however, that is where the similarities with a traditional DNS server end. The most substantial difference lies in its process of receiving requests from the user and returning the requested page back to the user. 1. SubstratumDNS prioritizes the user’s geolocation to identify the closest nodes. This nbsp;allows for the user to receive the fastest request response possible. nbsp;2. Within that bank of nodes, the system locates the nodes with the most accurate nbsp; ination that needs to be returned. This is a complex process involving machine nbsp; learning and advanced algorithms. nbsp; Note Not all nodes hold the same ination. In fact, the nodes themselves rotate content and ination to guarantee and maintain their anonymity. 3. Once the system locates the best primary node it sends the request to the node to return to the user. nbsp; nbsp;.null nbsp;104. If the node requires additional content from another node, the two nodes will work in nbsp; tandem to return the required content. This will ensure that we can reach the entire world with the Substratum network without the average everyday user having to install any special software. .null nbsp;11Section 5 nbsp;SUBSTRATUM COINS AND CRYPTO PAY Substrate Token “Cryptocurrency” and “blockchains” are terms that have been tossed around the past few years without a lot of ination on what they actually are and how they work. Put simply, cryptocurrencies are e-monies that are not backed by any centralized financial institute or financial server. Instead it is backed and produced from within the cryptocurrency community itself. This means that every single peer in a cryptocurrency’s network has a list of all transactions made by all other peers. This database of the networks data and transactions is called the blockchain. In order to complete a transaction, the entire network has to collectively agree that the transaction is valid and that there are available funds to move. A transaction is simply a file that tells the network what you want to do, signed with your personal, encrypted key. This file is broadcasted to the entire network through nodes a network of peer-to-peer computers. Once the transaction is confirmed as legitimate, the record of the transaction is added as a new block to the blockchain. This record cannot be changed, reversed or altered in any way. nbsp;Blockchain technology is being used for more than digital money. Due to its genuine peer-to-peer network, it can be used for identity confirmation, smart contracts, auditing, data and record management. The applications that are using blockchain technology are growing and changing every day. .null nbsp;12Substratum Network will be running a combination of blockchains, developed specifically for the decentralized web. Substrate, the coin that is the fuel that runs the Substratum Network is a ERC20 compliant token based on the Ethereum Blockchain. nbsp;Substratum runs on Substrate and Atoms, a rough linguistic equivalent to dollars and cents. The fiat currency model uses numbers rounded to the second decimal place, and so does SUB. The numbers before the decimal point are Substrate and the numbers after are the Atoms. So for example, 354.98/p