Bitcoin Forum

Can US Citizens Participate in ICOs???

Every ICO is different so short answer yes and no. But for the most part I think I have seen USA excluded from participating in most ICOs so long answer probably not allowed.

There are a lot of ICO's that restrict US citizens. The ones that do restrict US Citizens are the ones that are trying to be in compliant with SEC so that they do not get fined by them.  The other ones don’t think about the SEC, don’t even think that SEC could reach them, or just don’t care about the SEC.

Some ICo's you can and some you are not allowed too. The coin should outline what countries are allowed to invest.

Most important thing whether US investors participate or not is the way the token sale is structured. ideally it does not have a security character. If it is a security token, the SEC will sooner or later part of your projects. Howey test is a good test to see whether your coin falls into this category or not. But even in some utility token scenarios it is hard to assume that the SEC will be always outside. Regulations change daily and so does any ICO have exposure to that risk.

Every coin has an ICO that gathers different amount of coins. If you want to invest in an ICO while staying in that Country, you can try to use a proxy or something.

Yes of course, if its utility and it's not security token. US citizens can

In most cases ico creator has to ban usa ip,but usa citzens can use vpn or buy after ico on exchanges
It is kind of regulators parody,still not clear rules for ico for sec

I remember correctly the United States has issued the same law ico like Korea and Korea, if the information is accurate then you are not allowed to invest in ico. But not necessarily you have to invest in ico you can make money but there are many other such as trading bitcoin or trade coin on the exchange or invest in projects that your country allows

it depends in which ICO you wanna participate

Hmm. There was a rhetorical thought. What if the organizers of ICO are engaged in illegal activities with money from a legitimate ICO. This will not be considered as sponsoring criminals? ???

Your post makes sense ;) Every ico has their own rules regarding which jurisdications can or can not participate on token sale. Some projects accept everyone without any additional rules but i am not sure how they gonna to control legal issues.

there is a different rule on ICO, sometimes US citizens didn't allowed
but few project is doesn't matter where are you come from

Yes and no. Probably because of the restrictions of crypto currencies in the US. That is why a lot of ICOs do not let US citizens to participate in their ICOs. Unfair it is, but that's just how things work. Nothing we can do about that.
But there are also a lot that accepts US citizens but there really aren't a lot that I have seen. But anyways, i wish this changes soon because a lot of US citizens are really into crypto currencies. This would really be great for the crypto world.

As far as I know, almost 100% of projects do not allow the American people to invest

But how does this issue exactly work? You make an ICO and you forbit to US citizen to partecipate, fine. But how do you avoid that they actually take part to the airdrop anyway? Even if you'd ban all US based IPs, they still could use a proxy, or not?

It seems like a lot of ICOs forbid US investors to protect themselves. Secretly, they're probably happy to have them participate.

It's easy to get mixed up in SEC violations in the US, so it's safer to exclude US investors.

It should be enough to warn the user, like when you enter in a 18+ website, no one can really check your age.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of the United States of America is strictly prohibiting ICO in their country, no matter which state you are from. Therefore, the citizens of the US cannot also participate in any ICO even if the ICO is based on other countries. But there are a few selected ICOs that seem to be oblivious about the SEC's ruling regarding ICO. However, most of the time, projects toe the line so that they will not be entangled with legal cases.

American citizens cannot participate in ICO projects. It is prohibited there as only accredited investors can deal with private operations with securities. Recently American authorities have forbidden advertisement of ICO performed by celebrities.

The USA still consider participating in any ICO an illegal business.

Well, as far as I know, according to the current law of the USA, ICO is under regulation there!! You could do some research on this if you want!

Yes, if they aren't security tokens. It's only security tokens that are against SEC rules.

i doubt that,because i saw an article that us citizen wont be allowed to participate in ICOs.
but it depends on ICO if they will allow but most likely no.

I thought USA have a more loyal attitude to a new type of investment. It's strange
Anyway you can use proxi or vpn  ;D

Unfortunately many ICO's won't allow participation from US citizens. I was very disappointed to be unable to participate in the Indahash ICO which started today because I'm a US citizen.

But I know few persons they are participating in these ICO's without any problem because they are not disclosing place and using Ether for this without any problem if you want then why are you sad go ahead and use ether and buy your favorite coins and enjoy

This is a general question which can not be answered by a simple YES or NO because every project has a legal frame work it chooses to follow...and it also depends on where they choose to establish their physical presence(offices) or the target market the want but most ICO's these days avoid the USA market because of legal uncertainty.

Mostly, Us citizen participate in ICO especially those people who want to earn  a profit coming from bitcoin.we cannot pinpoint the race of the person exactly if he or she a  american citizen,because all of us here using a screen name in bounty campaign,but i know in my heart  in my mind that there are some US citizen who join here in signature campaign,because everybody here is free to join as long you are intelligible of digital currency.

there are only a few ICO's that us citizens can participate in. One being vector (https://vectorexchange.io) which allows US citizens to participate.

US citizens can participate in Qchain ICO  .This project from United States, California, Irvine

Accountability
- US company based in California
- Has done due diligence in legal and regulatory compliance
- Followed through on their word to ICO after releasing a demo and perform legal due diligence
- Escrow for their ICO funds, with 2 third-party accounts on both their NEM and Ethereum wallets


Qchain – EQC & XQC ICO For Blockchain Marketing Ad Analytics
https://bitcoinexchangeguide.com/qchain/

Qchain also appears on Nasdaq's website once more:
http://www.nasdaq.com/article/qchains-forward-advancement-amid-the-changing-world-of-icos-cm873184

New article in the Bitcoinmagazine
https://bitcoinmagazine.com/articles/qchains-forward-advancement-amid-changing-world-icos/

The details of the crowdsale
https://medium.com/the-qchain-blog/the-qchain-token-sale-begins-now-e08259c98101

Telegram: https://t.me/qchainplatform
Twitter: https://twitter.com/QchainPlatform
Reddit: https://qchain.reddit.com
Medium: https://medium.com/the-qchain-blog
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/QchainPlatform/
Bitcointalk: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2264106
Bitcointalk Bounty: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2229065.0

English whitepaper: https://qchain.co/files/Qchain_whitepaper.pdf

Most of the ICOs that I encountered do not allow US citizens to participate. The same is true to people who are based in Singapore. I am actually thinking that a very huge potential is really untapped here in both countries. But there are a few ICOs who are indifferent to both the countries' SEC laws and policies disallowing them to venture into ICOs. This is going to be a huge legal risk to these projects. 

there are some ICOs that only allow certain citizens to participate. but I think most ICOs allow any citizens from world wide to participate.
But I dont know how about regulation from US Government about participation in ICOs

As this post points out, it is legal for US corporations to hold an ICO and US citizens may participate. However, there are restrictions to both of these cases. The SEC just released a statement saying that they are going to investigate ICOs as potential securities more closely going forward. With respect to participating, it actually depends on the state in which you reside. For example, if you live in the state of New York you cannot participate in ICOs, as New York has stricter securities regulations (that's where the New York Stock Exchange is so they have unique financial laws).

The last time I checked, US investors were banned from participating in ICOs. The SEC was against investing in ICOs and ended up approving it as being an illegal activity. I have seen a lot of ICO websites whereby all American IP addresses where blocked and some investors ended up having access through the usage of VPNs, not sure if that is legal or not. Hopefully, American investors will have to buy once the coins are listed on major exchanges.

If the token is not considered a security, US citizens can participate in ICOs.
Being or not a security, is the grey area.

They can, if tokens are utility.

If they comes with the VPN software or plug in what can be done. I think this a stupid question. If the country banned usage of ICO also you can use the token with the different country's exchange or wallet where the site organization put in. That is international law. From the trader you can exchange that as bitcoin where legal or convert as fiat currency with the traders means nothing will gonna affect.

Yes US citizens can participate in ICO but there are some restrictions because of the SEC rule.

Us citizens can if only if is not a security token and doesn't go against the rule of SEC. And that's the reason why some ico ask participants to go through kyc.

What kind of restrictions are you talking about?

US citizens can participate in US ICOs but that's all. It's all to do with regulation so ICOs from elsewhere, Europe for example, should block people from participating with an IP address from America. It's quite difficult for people from elsewhere in the world to participate in US ICOs, lots of hoops to jump.

Why you think so? For example I want to participate in Qchain (and as I know its US ICO), so I can't do it, because I'm not US citizen? Don't think so.

Anyone can Join Qchan's ICO, I already joined and I'm not US citizen.

There are icos that US citizens are not allowed to join. The SEC rule is a thing to take note of if you want to join one. But there are icos in which the US ip address is banned from joining.

This is how I read your comment:

"An extradition treaty exists: No sales to US citizens. No extradition treaty: All are welcome."

lol

Well that in the US is not forbidden vpn  :P
It looks strange, the United States is such a developed and advanced country, but US citizens can not participate in the ICO.

I think this depends on the project itself. Some projects they dont want to get trouble in future, so they ban the participation from US citiyens.

A working proxy or any other type of information that will prove that the person is not in the USA is a nice effort to make it possible to participate in ICO's that restrict USA users.

To put this into perspective, the United States is quite strict when it comes to investment regulations. Only accredited investors can partake in private placements of securities. While some people would urge all cryptocurrency ICOs are tokens and not securities, regulators will have a very different opinion regarding this matter. A lot of the ICOs we have seen can be labeled as traditional sales of equity.

Once the SEC will effectively intervene in cryptocurrency ICOs – which is only a matter of time – things will get very interesting, to say the least. A lot of previous ICOs didn’t take the necessary steps to “deny” US citizens from investing. All of those projects and their teams are at the mercy of the SEC for the time being. Violating US securities laws is not something anyone wants to deal with. Additionally, these laws can also be enforced upon non-US companies, which makes it even more important to take countermeasures.

We are offering investors and traders from all over the world a chance to participate in any current or upcoming ICO.
We also pool together investments to acquire pre-sale bonuses, and have a proven record of trust and completed investments.
If you wish to participate in any upcoming ICO's, please visit us at http://icobroker.trade for more information,
or email us at info<AT>icobroker.trade
Our ANN thread can be found here: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2144224.0 

** Our current listed ICO's are outdated, but just let us know which ICO you are interested in. **

The United States forbids ICO projects, but you can get identity information from other countries through underground channels so that you can formally participate in the ICO program.

of course you can dont let the rottshild bankster cartel manipulated regionalist parliament in washington dictate you what you to do

US was first to ban ICO before china but there are always ways to join.

U.S. citizens can participate in some ico projects, but most are not willing to accept Chinese and U.S. citizens in ico because both Chinese and U.S. governments consider it illegal to finance the project.

Sorry, US citizens can not participate in the ICO, depending on US policy issues, you can buy some of your favorite ICO projects in the secondary market,

Tell me if I am wrong, but as I know officially United States citizens should stay away from all ICO projects and never invest into them. However, I know some risky guys that use anonymizers and proxy and register there as the citizens of the other  countries.

Some ICOs allowed u.s citizen but most of them dont allow its prohibited in u.s.

as most of the ICOs are scam one way or another they don't because they are afraid about SEC

Yes and no. Probably because of the restrictions of crypto currencies in the US. That is why a lot of ICOs do not let US citizens to participate in their ICOs. Unfair it is, but that's just how things work. Nothing we can do about that.
But there are also a lot that accepts US citizens but there really aren't a lot that I have seen. But anyways, i wish this changes soon because a lot of US citizens are really into crypto currencies. This would really be great for the crypto world.

I want this injustice to end. Crypto currency is created for independence from the government of the countries. It is very bad that US citizens are restricted in participating in the ICO. But so far this is really so.

Yeah.You can participate in some ICO's with out restrictions.But most ICO's dont allow it.

It looks like you have a lot of good answers already.

Basically, a lot of ICOs exclude Chinese, Singaporean, and US citizens due to regulations and laws.
There is the option of using an escrow service, but then you would have to factor in the price to use that service.
This will significantly alter the cost per coin/token that you invest in.

With that being said, let me give you some quick advice on icos:

Avoid them.

I know it is tempting to jump in on one in hopes that you can get astronomical returns later, but just peruse the forums and you will get a general idea that most people lose money through icos or the returns aren't nearly a good as just putting money into bitcoin.
There is a sort of ICO bubble now where there are just too many.
Too many projects with not enough investors along with many icos going into the same sector with way too much competition.

Nowadays, you can easily get an ico coin for the ico price or even lower a couple weeks after it hits exchanges, much safer and wiser.

Every ICO have its rules. Most of ICO don't accept US citizens but i saw many that don't have this restriction.
You can ask support of any project. Usually, they are very active before ICO end.

The fact that Americans can not participate in the ICO is really very bad. But it's good that now Americans can buy and sell the crypto currency officially. This will benefit the development of the Crypto-currency.

In the United States only accredited investors can be offered private placements of securities, and the onus is on the issuer to ensure that only accredited investors take part, lest they expose themselves personally and their company to potential criminal liabilities in the United States.

Some ICO use geolocation to block US citizens, but those can be bypassed with a proxy or VPN, but it's not legal.

For now, it seems most ICO will exclude China and the United States, since both countries have banned the ICO project, which is clearly not conducive to the development of ICO.

A lot of ICO restrict US citizens or residents, I think is due to the nature of taxation and US authorities cold views on crypto coins.

Singapore's financial regulator has announced a partnership with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to discuss the establishment of the DAO and ICO tokens. This happened August ..
As before, they still continue to consider the case of ICO by case, and for companies running ICO campaigns to be honest when dealing with investors and not scams.

jes you can, even us authorities arent decided, there are some authorities thinking X others think Y, furtheremore the us is based on liberty, stop having a "government" telling you what to do seek your own economic success.

According to the SEC you should not be allowed to unless your are "Qualified Investor". 

https://www.fool.com/investing/general/2014/11/24/are-you-a-qualified-investor.aspx

As far as I know, American citizens cannot participate in the ICO crowdfunding, because the law can define the ICO as illegal.

Because the government cannot control ICO , because a democratic government is free enterprise  in their statement that they will just urging the company to be honest in running ICO in dealing with investors is mere warning,the government will only intervene in case of scam because they can go after them because there is a law against pilferage that can be used for scammers, the purpose of US security and exchange commission is for the protection of their citizen against scam.

US were the first to ban ICOs so no, but you can always get them when they hit the exchange or other means.

The government of China and US only wants to protect is citizen from being involved in ICO the are produce in the market just to scam people, It is open in the market that this is the new way to scam people and its multi million dollars investment in ICO, if an ICO have a citizen restriction then be warned for it may be a scam.

The us government wants to regulate the investment industry in the ICO. Only after that, citizens of usa will be allowed to officially participate in the ICO. Now there is a lot of deception in the industry, investing in ICO is very risky.

I also think that the government of the United States of America protects its citizens from scam ICO projects. I think it's good, because now ICO in a lot of scam.

A allowed to participate in the ICO of the company to U.S. citizens. Before you can participate you need to read the terms. Either change your IP address.

Indeed, at present there are so many scam ICO that the defense of the state will not hurt.

I think this is the right decision of their government, because 98% of all ICO project are scam now

the problem is that people today misunderstand an important aspects of what these governments in truth are:

financial cartels,

these are hijacked financial cartels, with a financial elite, systematically abusung the entire state,

people shoulde cease to take that serious, we need seriously to transform our societies,

not just in the west, but also increasingly in the east (asia, china, japan korea)

But i just seen the icos that doesn't really care about the sec regulation about the ico definition. As you can see there are some project that based on US that still runs the ico to get a lot of fund and they are only try to preventing US investors to participate in there. But i just curious there are some that allowed US investors to participate too.

If I invested in an utility token ICO without knowing the US regulations, what should be done? I transferred ether, but haven't received any actual tokens from the ICO yet.

US Citizens are not allowed to participate in the majority of ICO's. US citizens may participate in ICO's which does not require KYC as all the participant needs to do is change their IP address to a country which is permitted to join.

Unfortunately, American citizens and Chinese citizens are not allowed to participate in ICO most of the time, but you can buy a VPN, so you can do ICO with foreign IP.

Depends on the ICO. Some choose to be unregulated so as a result, US citizens cannot participate. However, there are projects who chose the be regulated and undergo legal procedures like Opporty--a US based company. The team is solid and the rating is high in ico reviews. You might want to check out the project, just see my signature below  :)

Everyone in this forum is eligible to join ICO's but some bounty has the rank requirements to join their campaings. As long as you know how to obey rules and regulations of the ICO you are going to apply , all of us our eligible.

For now America has not allowed citizens to participate in ico. but I do not yet know the new rules that apply in ico if citizens can participate in ico. it would be fun for american citizens

Most of the ICO launchers would love to allow US citizens to invest. The problem is that the regulations make it very difficult to be compliant and the agencies in USA tend to bully the business unless they strictly align with their views. Is you live in the USA, just ask your representatives to change the law.

The U.S. and Chinese citizens are no longer allowed to participate in ICO, and South Korea may also ban its citizens from the ICO, which is becoming increasingly unfriendly. >:(

for us citizens are not allowed to participant. some ico's also allowed some ico's are not allowed be careful with that. check before joining.

ICO market for United States citizens are not friendly, now a citizen of the United States cannot through KYC verification, but China also is such, want to attend the ICO can only buy KYC information on the black market, so it increases the risk.

Not all of them. In fact, only few ICOs are accepting US investors with severe rules. You can find this information in their WP or by asking the team.

I also heard that Singapore does not allow citizens to participate in ICO. This is often found in the conditions of companies where there is a KYC verification

just gone through a whitepaper few minutes ago and it said US citizens are not allowed to participate and i was just thinking about it, to at least know why it is so. for now many are still on the no option for US

Why do you think so many ICO coins go through the moon after the ICO? It is because US citizens can't participate in the ICO, but it is easy for them to buy off the exchange after the ICO.

The US government is #1 at having no clue how technology works and #1 at protecting its banks - at the expense if its citizens.

I find ICOs very difficult to work in countries such as the USA and Mexico, and there are a number of ICOs that do not allow citizens in these countries to participate in their bounty because it affects the development of the ICO. But ICOs I recently participated in are welcome all citizens of the country so you feel free to participate in offline.

What about if I am a citizen in USA, I also a citizen in VietNam?

Depends on the ICO, of course. So you'll have to double check if they allow certain IPs only or what.

I have seen many times the rule that US citizens can not participate in sales of ICO, but at the same time I have seen many ICO, registered in the US. Those. In the USA, it's possible to making ICO, but it's restricted to participate their citizens   

I have seen many ICO projects from the American team.
However, these programs are not open to American citizens, which is an interesting phenomenon.

As i know a lot of ICOs restrict the participation of US citizens, because there are a lot of problems with US law. So, you should carefully read the rules.

Yes, mostly US citizens are not allowed to participate in ICO as well as citizens of China, Canada and so on. So usually team just doesn’t want to be tangled with American jurisdiction.

My opinion of course can . although across projects where it is forbidden but I have not yet met such . So I'm sure you can .

US nationals can take an interest in US ICOs yet that's it in a nutshell. It's all to do with control so ICOs from somewhere else, Europe for instance, should square individuals from taking an interest with an IP address from America. It's very troublesome for individuals from somewhere else on the planet to partake in US ICOs, bunches of loops to bounce.

All ICOs have different conditions. But in most cases, it is forbidden for US citizens to participate in such sales.

This requires knowing the policies of your country. As far as I know, the United States is currently not allowed to conduct ICO. If you want to participate in cryptocurrency, you can choose some ways to get tokens for free, such as bounty missions and airdrops, or you can choose Exchange purchase token

As far as I know most of ICO is restrict the participation of ICO because the law of US is very strict. Many ICO is making on USA but there citizen is not able to participate on it.

There's an ICO called GSC Platform that has just come out. They have been acredited by the SEC to allow U.S citizens to participate in there crowdsale. Website link is below...

https://gscplatform.io

Relies upon the ICO. Some be unregulated so accordingly, US subjects can't take part. Nonetheless, there are ventures who picked the be controlled and experience lawful strategies like Opporty- - a US based organization. The group is strong and the rating is high in ico audits. You should need to look at the venture, simply observe my mark underneath Smiley

YES! But most not in the traditional way that you think of because of the laws and KYC. But you can take part in the ICO's bounties directly or on bounty platforms like Bounty0x.io and once you do tasks like join or follow their social media platforms you get the ICO tokens plus paid for tweets and retweets, post, content creation, comments ect. You can really rack up the tokens