Clarification on false insider trading accusations

I wanted to make a statement on some of the questions the community has. The same statement will be uploaded in German (https://medium.com/@julianhosp/klarstellung-von-inkorrekten-vorw%C3%BCrfen-bzgl-insider-handels-e49bd2fbfdf0) When I made the statement of stepping down, I was way too emotional to do them bilingual.

The past couple of days were probably the hardest ones in my life. I was hit with lots of lies, speculations and rumors. The press jumped onto that and spread false sensationalism. I understand most of you don’t know what happened, and you start to wonder. Others on the other hand, always wanted the company and myself to fail and you are now cheering about what happened. I can only imagine what a shock it was for you as a community. Trust me, it was for me too. Yet, so many of you sent me these wonderful and encouraging messages — they were what got me up in the mornings, even though I would have preferred to stay in bed. So, thank you so much for all that.

Now, I want to take the chance to answer some of these matters..

And that is the first thing: I hope you understand and respect that the other founders and myself want to keep the exact reasons between us confidential and not share them with the rest of the world. In most separations, this is how it is.

Next, I have seen the stories about me supposedly selling 2.2M tokens. This is absolutely wrong and is based on false facts that someone tried to connect without any substance. Anyone actually checking the details, should have seen that right away. Sadly, most people and also the press don’t check the facts, but just babble after what others say, who do the same. Fact is: Just like last year, I did sell some of my tokens at the end of the year. In this year’s case after the snapshot, to offset part of my income tax. I received tokens as part of my salary and based on the value at when I get them, I have to pay tax on it — just like anyone else, who pays their taxes. Nothing of all that was because of any insider information —actually, I have mentioned this fact several times in the past. The actual amounts are nowhere in the amounts that the press and social media speculate. So please, stop the lies about me dumping all my tokens on insider information. Nothing of that is correct. Actually, I still own most of my tokens and I am, probably just like many of you, looking forward to getting the rewards tokens from the snapshot.

I had wanted to respond to these false accusations right away, but with all the media- and community-outbursts I was so overwhelmed that I had wanted to let the dust settle first. As you might understand, all this is not that easy and takes time. The company has made a statement and has communicated that it will do a Q&A later this week.

At some point in the future, I definitely want to pick up “#Cryptofit” again and hopefully, I will find something else that I have the same passion for as I had over the past years. I can only encourage you to give the team and myself a fair chance. It was also a shock for them. This is a new scenario for everyone involved. So, stop the judging.

I want to finish with a quote from a person that I could always relate to — Steve Jobs — who said: “Sometimes life’s going to hit you in the head with a brick. Don’t lose faith.”

And that’s what I want to finish with. So, stay positive — cause this is how the future is.

Thank you all,

Julian