diff --git a/db/substate_db.go b/db/substate_db.go
index 79484ec..94c9213 100644
--- a/db/substate_db.go
+++ b/db/substate_db.go
@@ -43,6 +43,9 @@ type SubstateDB interface {
 
 	// GetLastSubstate returns last substate (block and transaction wise) inside given DB.
 	GetLastSubstate() (*substate.Substate, error)
+
+	// SetDecoder sets the decoder func to the provided encoding
+	SetDecoder(encoding string) *substateDB
 }
 
 // NewDefaultSubstateDB creates new instance of SubstateDB with default options.
diff --git a/db/substate_decoder.go b/db/substate_decoder.go
index e432976..707d5dd 100644
--- a/db/substate_decoder.go
+++ b/db/substate_decoder.go
@@ -10,12 +10,12 @@ import (
 	"github.com/golang/protobuf/proto"
 )
 
-// decodeUsing sets the runtime parsing behavior of substateDB
+// SetDecoder sets the runtime parsing behavior of substateDB
 // intended usage:
 //
-//	db := &substateDB{..} // initializing db
-//	db.DecodeSubstateUsing(<encoding>) // end of init, or right before decoding
-func (db *substateDB) DecodeSubstateUsing(encoding string) *substateDB {
+//	db := &substateDB{..}           // initializing db
+//	        .SetDecoder(<encoding>) // end of init, or right before decoding
+func (db *substateDB) SetDecoder(encoding string) *substateDB {
 	db.decodeSubstate = getDecoderFunc(encoding, db.GetCode)
 	return db
 }
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ type substateDecoder interface {
 
 func (db *substateDB) DecodeSubstate(bytes []byte, block uint64, tx int) (*substate.Substate, error) {
 	if db.decodeSubstate == nil {
-		db.decodeUsing("default")
+		db.SetDecoder("default")
 	}
 	return db.decodeSubstate(bytes, block, tx)
 }
@@ -47,7 +47,6 @@ func getDecoderFunc(encoding string, lookup codeLookup) decoderFunc {
 			return decodeProtobuf(bytes, lookup, block, tx)
 		}
 	default:
-		fmt.Println("Defaulting getDecoderFunc")
 		fallthrough
 	case "rlp":
 		return func(bytes []byte, block uint64, tx int) (*substate.Substate, error) {
diff --git a/db/substate_iterator.go b/db/substate_iterator.go
index 9512801..54f196f 100644
--- a/db/substate_iterator.go
+++ b/db/substate_iterator.go
@@ -3,11 +3,8 @@ package db
 import (
 	"fmt"
 
-	"github.com/golang/protobuf/proto"
-	"github.com/syndtr/goleveldb/leveldb/util"
-
-	pb "github.com/Fantom-foundation/Substate/protobuf"
 	"github.com/Fantom-foundation/Substate/substate"
+	"github.com/syndtr/goleveldb/leveldb/util"
 )
 
 func newSubstateIterator(db *substateDB, start []byte) *substateIterator {
@@ -34,15 +31,7 @@ func (i *substateIterator) decode(data rawEntry) (*substate.Substate, error) {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("invalid substate key: %v; %w", key, err)
 	}
 
-	//rlpSubstate, err := rlp.Decode(value)
-	//return rlpSubstate.ToSubstate(i.db.GetCode, block, tx)
-
-	pbSubstate := &pb.Substate{}
-	if err := proto.Unmarshal(value, pbSubstate); err != nil {
-		return nil, err
-	}
-
-	return pbSubstate.Decode(i.db.GetCode, block, tx)
+	return i.db.DecodeSubstate(value, block, tx)
 }
 
 func (i *substateIterator) start(numWorkers int) {