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I've seen many ICOs that do not allow American investors and not sure why. Is there a reason for something like this?

cuz you don't wanna deal with the US legal system.. if an ICO blocks US people, its safer for the project/company/organization/protocol/etc.

So if a US crypto start up doesn't allow US investors, it might not be a scam?

I thought any US crypto start up that doesnt allow US investors must be a scam

Yes, I've seen ICO which also blocked IP Address USA. Incidentally I also follow the ICO bounty program. I still do not understand clearly. They never mentioned the reason but I forgot. However, this will be different if US investors use other countries' VPNs to access the ICO. Honestly I want to know the obvious reason.

I've seen many American-based companies that don't allow American investors for ICOs.

I've been involved in a few. You can have someone trusted overseas get them for you. I found a nice gentleman in a telegram chat.

But it's not like it's all of the sudden legal? Or isn't it illegal to begin with, do these ico's have to reject us residents?

I see. My biggest concern was them being scam coins, but if that's the case I was gravely mistaken.

Or you can use a VPN like this user... No idea why I never thought of that myself lol

If someone can answer this question, I'd be in their debt!

I might be wrong about this but I think you have to register your ICO with a certain govt agency to make it legal. Look at the dragonchain ICO, allowed american investors but it was also registered with some US agency.

Mostly all ICO's are scams, ideas that don't actually require tokens or the development teams are eastern bloc mobsters. Its the equivalent of the nigerian scams of the late 90's. USA is just first to regulate, more will follow and all that will be left are 3rd world countries that don't give a damn about their citizens.

American ICOs are regulated and you have to pay a fee to register and even then you might not get approved.

So much easier for these people to make it outside the USA and have USA investors use a proxy or have someone buy it for them.

It really doesn't change much if US investors aren't allowed. Most companies meet their goals and American investors who want the tokens bad enough will find a way.

That's not true. I'd say 20% of ICO are scams, the others are legit trying to build a company. Some ICOs though have repetitive or horrible ideas so no one invests.

It is easy to spot a scam though - usually the idea has been around already and there is absolutely no mention of a team or Linkedin profiles.

But how about those companies that have all that information but no US investors? They don't seem like scams at all, but the no US investor part puts me off a bit.

By the way, what do you mean by eastern bloc mobsters?

Check out cartaxi ICO, you will see what i mean. Perfect example of scam that will come undone anytime in the next 6 months.

It doesn't necessarily mean that the ICO is a scam, but it does mean they are trying to bypass a securities rating, and should be viewed as a high risk investment. The same reason a lot of new tokens are distributing by airdops and campaigns, except there's no financial risk for the consumer with the drop/bounty option.

us gov allow you only to breath :) some times

SEC has banned ICOs because 90% of ICOs are scams

Many or most foreign brokerage houses and banks refuse to deal with U.S. persons because of the onerous compliance requirements. As the author quite correctly states near the end of the article

"FATCA requirements are so restrictive and obtrusive that many foreign banks and financial institutions just refuse to do business with American customers.

Because theres a lot of irregularities in most ICOs and the SEC has banned the ICOs.

SEC is very serious structure to play with. Just few projects are able to pass their (SEC) test to be able to take contributions from US citizens.

The regulation in each country is different, American is specifically tough towards investing because it's the largest economy and everything basically starts from there. They have had a lot of experience in the finance sector and know what "rules" have to be put into place to make things sustainable. The way things work right now are not very structured at the moment, but the market is gaining traction and in a couple of years, this might become a real issue (if markets are not regulated). I think it's good that America doesn't allow all it's citizens to invest into ICO's because many of them are frauds to start with. There are so many projects right now that won't make it far, and many investors will end up with their pockets empty. China might start banning even more people and exchanges from participating in ICO's so they might not be the only one's (Americans) to be excluded from the party.

Most foreign brokerage houses and banks refuse to deal with U.S. persons because of the onerous compliance requirements.FATCA requirements are so restrictive and obtrusive that many foreign banks and financial institutions just refuse to do business with American customers. Also, the tax law and compliance policies are being applied to cryptocurrency ventures which formerly seemed exempt.

They allowed it probably it's not a security ico

posting here so I remember to see this later!

This makes sense too.. too many rules so easier to go overseas

US gov considers ICOs are security, so projects may ban US investors, some ICOs are banning Singapore and Chinese investors too. ICO avoids to suffer legal issue.

American system itself does not recognize ICO legal projects. Americans believe that it is possible investing only in stocks that are provided with something. Investing in tokens and coins is fraud. This is the main reason why ICO do not cooperate with the USA citizens.

Because United States are a tyrany run by a corrupted elite. And to prevent people to finance great projects without them taking an absolutely unfair part, they banned any of their citizens to invest in profit-sharing ICOs, also called securities. Thank you 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

read this article for better understanding why US are neglected for ICOs https://news.bitcoin.com/some-icos-now-ban-americans-who-should-expect-more-ostracism/

Just imagine how big government institutions you will faced if you breach some of its laws and besides those ICOs don't want to mess their project and avoiding such implications is better for investors outside of american territory.