Bitcoin Forum

How do they verify identity in KYC registration? If I had a fake Id from the EU and an address would that possibly work?

The real question is who are you giving your passport to?  Are they thieves, terrorists, criminals or scammers?  Why would a crypto project want your identity like that and not move the business to a proper jurisdiction to take this potential huge liability off the supporters.. 

Do they secure the info (impossible to take out the human factor).

You feeling lucky?  For those that send in all your information may your chains rest lightly.

Is crypto really crypto when you need to show 18 forms of id?  May as well head down to the big bankers and do business there.

Articles out there where the terrorists are using fake/stolen passports.

https://identity.utexas.edu/id-experts-blog/the-link-between-identity-theft-and-terrorism

Maybe we shouldn't be passing our passports to everyone to get into crypto.  Imagine a huge terror attack and your on the news because you sent in your passport for KYC and the world is looking for you!

i am thinking the same as you, crypto currency were created to stay anonymous and the transaction will stay behind identity, but ICO now is doing KYC (know your custumer) which sadly give your identification out, this is just like a bank again and crypto are being dispose. though the KYC ensure and give plus factor to an ICO to be more successful now and not a scam. mostly theres many countries out there that must not in ICO participation

I believe that any ICO project that requires your personal data is SCAM! There are no legitimate reasons for this, for this I pass by such projects. The same goes for AirDrop.

Im against with this KYC policies of ICO on investors and bounty participants.

I mean, crypto are not used to become like this. We are already giving personal information to some of the centralized exchanges and now on the ICO project itself we need to give our personal information. For what? For investors it doesn't making sense. And if for bounty participaints to detect multiple participants, well sounds reasonable but they must think of other way without undergoing KYC's.

Let's see how this will goes on to the future projects and I want to see if I found something to become reasonable to undergo KYC's.

Most of the government issued identification documents are marked. The fake ones are always identify if the ICO team are serious and know what they are doing. Also some machine can identify fake and original documents, so it can be verify.

Glad to see some free thinking individuals are here looking at the big picture and not submitting to this bogus KYC scam. 

I can't wait to hear the sheep crying when one of these KYC projects get hacked and Al Quada is running around with their passport doing god knows what. 

I mean crypto with passport identification losses the entire spirit of the movement.  I fear the narrow minded who send their documents in are going to be hurt soon.

Imagine how easy it would be to start a project, get everyone's passports and sell them to the most nefarious individuals.

Anyone know how much a stolen passport goes for now days?

Of course they don't secure the information enough, if you want to trust some start up with like max 30 people out there go ahead. Thing with crypto is that it was supposed to be available for anybody without requesting your IDs and all other stuff.


It doesn't need to be a scam, some countries for instance don't allow ICOs to rise funds from their citizens, so by requesting your IDs they want to make sure not to have any trouble with governments in future. I know that some ICOs are even baned for US citizens, so how the hell can they make sure you are not? I don't say that this is the good way to do it.


What can you do about stolen ones? I don't think that companies behind ICOs even care that much tbh.



People see only profit and they don't even think twice and look that this is an serious issue out there giving you IDs to anyone online is dangerous.

Yea I agree its lame but it seems like every big ICO now doesn't allow US residents. I want to invest in BeeToken but live in the US and they use Know your Customer. You just send a pic of the front and back of the ID I think so If you got a good fake one maybe that would work.

I wonder who even brought the KYC idea and what it really stand to add to me sef. you do your best to partake in a programme and when it is time for reward someone will come up with such idea.

Yes, but there is a huge risk for being rejected in there if they discover that you are a fake guy, and you can easily go to jail if you are using FAKE ID's, and more for this kind of purposes.

Just put your own data, nothing is going to happen to you if you are investing in a legit project.

Just be careful about in where are you going to submitt your data, nothing more than this.

It just became centralized.  ;D
I saw one that needs every information to complete their bounties.
That is really sad.
The faces and information of this people are now out.
They can try passwords from your birthdays which are in your ID's and also a lot of possibilities to take anything from you.
Scary.

Are there any real cases when a some country put you in jail for fake ID's in KYC registration? I don't hear about it. Don't think that this can happen in the near future in cryptoworld.

KYC is used to identify a person to know for sure that he is not from the country that is prohibited from participating in the ICO. I don't see anything terrible in this.

Most probably not.
1. They are using external contractors who have contracts and agreements to access IDs DBs.
2. It's illegal

Me too,  I allegedly against KYC process because it will take too long process before you paid in Bounty campaigns. They need to verify all one by one before to confirm it. It might take so long, I don't know if it is reasonable to deal with it or not.

That's bullshit.
You don't even know to whom you are giving those information and for what they will use it.
What you are doing here is trusting complete stranger with your sensitive data. It takes only 10 minutes to create erc20 token everyone can do it and everyone can launch ICO.

becareful when you send your personal data online millions of crime are committed everyday. how will you feel if you discover that your identity have been compromise. ICO are not suppose to require KYC for buying of token. this is currenly increasing among ICO. aalmost every ICO now do KYC this is not suppose to happen. it is damn crypto

Omg your reason is so wrong and without any sense!

When you participate in bounty campaign you are payed for that, asking KYC for bounty reward is like they are paying you in tokens to get your ID.
I can't believe what I am reading. You are damn bounty hunter like me, no one should ask you for ID. It is not even stated in any bounty campaign and they don't have right to ask you for ID after bounty ends which some campaigns are doing.

I wonder how many people would promote project if they knew from beginning that they will need to provide personal information.

I don't see anything wrong with asking for this type of info for KYC. I understand the purpose behind it, but I do see why security is important. The most recent airdrop I've signed up for (Polymath) asked for KYC. Makes sense because they got 42,000+ submissions lol. What would you do in that case then?

this is a new ways in ico at nowadays you need to fill all your information such as your address name and pass port ID

to their ico website and get agree to join the ico ,

I think that there are some agencies that check the data sent to participate in the purchase of assets and tokens.Can be corporate departments that conduct analysis. And it's very good for me.  8)

What is completely out of order is people doing KYC's on Bounty Participants and Airdrops.
There is no legal justification for it at all.

But to answer the original question "KYC registration for ICOs? How do they verify?"
The answer is they don't. It is a box ticking exercise. They keep all results in case they ever get questioned by the authorities, but they don't try to verify any of it.

KYC can be used to scam people getting your personal info isnt a good idea,we need privacy thats why we used cryptocurrencies.

most ico from china and singapore required us to upload pasport id and bank statement

this is a dilemma, such good ico, but should give our personal id in return

well may be better wait that good new altcoin release on the market, and wait for dip to buy and hold for longterm.
much safer that way :)

This is completly ilegal, you can end being in jail because of doing this (just like another user said before)

Do not try to do it, what is your "profit" just for using another fake ID? Not revealing your identity? No offense, but that is not a good thing after all.

It is worth it, those who are accepting KYC's are only doing it in order to provent some fishy contributions, and of course, to make the SEC look better at them if they have any issues on the future.

we must not ignore the marketing side : a KYC regestration inspires that the project is serious and the team is solid (even when it is not) ...

KYC registration for a Bounty or airdrop is absurd

I think that you don't have to do that. $5-10 worth nothing, but your information does! Digital access, first of all, are about decentralization, anonymous, so we shouldn't pass KYS!

Well, for me this is legally thing procedure for every users in complying KYC registration for ICO's because giving your personal informations identity makes developers and project owner's are fully confident that they are assured of the people behind in promoting there product, giving the trust and confidence that the project will success.

Even some wants KYC for bounties. Things are getting worse.

This is also a question in my mind. And why is it that they don't trust their customers, the fact that you gave them your money as an investment is a way to show that you are a trusted person

KYC process is done through verifying your identity via email. The only thing they accept as valid ID is your passport. So you have to scan it and send them a copy. Some of them will have video call with you to verify more. But KYC with a startup crypto company has its own risk. Like when your identity was stolen and used in terrorism.

It is almost the same as i replied to a guy before, it is not getting worse to those who are always hating the bounty hunters (in fact, i hate them all for spamming the entire forum)

But yes, risking all your personal INFO just for $100 a month, or a little bit more, is a waste of time, and a lack of security for you.

I would not submit my information if i were a bounty hunter, because what could happen with my information if the ICO fails?

May your chains rest softly.

You will need to send some id like passport,driver's license,professional ids etc, to be accepted in KYC ICOs,if you dont have im afraid you wont be accepted and allowed to join.

Are you saying that those bounties are asking for IDs at end? Why don't they do it at the beginning this seems like some shady business for me and a scam, this way they are making people to reveal their identity because they did job for them. I haven't done many bounties but from my experience there wasn't any problem regarding this, could you maybe point out some article about this issue as I want to investigate more I don't see any reason why would they do that.

There are software to verify the info, but I don't think any ICO spend money on getting said software.

KYC is a must for any serious ICO. Because token is digital currency. When it's a currency, the ICO will need to be in full compliance. Money laundering is a serious crime in any country, and KYC is just the first step for ICO to waive their liabilities to potential crime. Sadly, this also provide a great opportunity for ID thief.

It is also a serious crime if the company fail to protect your ID. 

I really doubt they are going to try an find me if they do catch that it's fake. The worst that would happen is if they looked the id numbers up and when nothing comes up they would say they were not able to verify me. I would just be denied participation.

Thus, the government binds your passport to your crypto-wallet, so wait in the near future representatives of the tax service. I avoid such ICO.

Yes and ID theft is a thriving industry. Bank accounts can be opened in your name. They use your KYC to pass official KYC's.
To be able to use KYC you need access to the personal records of people which the ICO projects don't have. THere is no reason for them to have it. They say it is for local laws but what laws are these? They always talk about these "laws" yet never tell us what laws exactly.

They will just one to check if you are living outsde U.S because all of the u.s citizens arent allowed to joing any of these ICOs because of the SEC regulations which prohibited them,SEC is only protecting their citizens from a potential scams because almost all of the ICOs are created just to raise funds and eventually will scam you.

I have no idea how they conduct KYC and who exactly conducts KYC and where our documents are eventually sent. Very few people think about it, so I think that these people will soon face problems.

Just when you thought ICOs were untrustworthy as is.

No way I'm sending them my ID (real one anyway) - too risky.

They just checking if you are really not a U.S citizens because the SEC's has prohibited all of the citizens of america to join any of these countries,these ICOs are only following SEC's regulations so they wont have any problem with their ICO phases,KYC verifications will only require you to send your IDs so they would know if you are from U.S or not,so they can be sure that they wont violate the  SEC's regulations.

They will only require you to send your IDs then they will check it if you are from U.S ,there wont be a problem if you arent citizen of america becaue the u.s citizens are the only ones who cant join these ICOs because the SEC has prohibited any US citizens from joining these potential scams.

Even myself is really against on this trend which now ICO bounty hunters is already required to pass up documentation for KYC which isnt really right after all.The true essence of anonymity among crypto is gone because of this rule implementation there might still other way on how to stop on being abused and this is why i do pass up to a project when theres a KYC rule.Its not really a good thing to give any information about yourself throughout the net.

I think this is unacceptable! Because we are not insured here!
It's just that the guys can take your giving and mess things up on the Internet!
I do not trust !

Actually I'm not favor about the kyc because mostly of the personal information of yours must be submitted including your government id and that is too dangerous for us.And this is the start for the hacker to thief  if they got already the information of each member.

They will only require you to send your passport or drivers license for them to be sure that you arent a u.s citizen because the u.s citizens arent allowed to join any of these ICOs because the SEC has prohibited these people to join,SEC is just protecting their citizens from potential scams like ICOs that is why these ICOs are complying only to the SEC's regulations so there will be no conflict with them.

They will require you to send your passports or drivers license because they want to know if someone from the u.s will join their ICO,because u.s citizens are prohibited from joining these ICOs,regulated by the SEC in the u.s and if these ICOs will accept U.S citizens there will face some legal consequences that is why most of the ICOs are starting to have KYC verifications.

It's a necessary step, they have to follow AML regulamentations (anti money laundering), but I understand your concerns. Deep web is used to sell IDs coming just from the fake ICOs. Too bad, but there is nothing we can do apart from being careful and be critic when we choose where to invest. Usually ico use third parties to gather and approve documents, I can't say anything more.

KYC verifcations will need get your IDs,but for your security you can have fake IDs first so that if your ID was sold into the darkweb your identity would be safe,because you didnt send your own ID.Most of the ICOs are doing this KYC thing to be sure that they arent violating the SEC's regulation which prohibiting all of the U.S citizens from joining any ICOs.

There are a lot of investors used fake ID to pass KYC that why news ICO projects are finding out the way to stop them like requires picture investors holding their ID card and a paper with a sentence that required. Beside there are few ICO project requires KYC by video like Evion project, investors need to KYC by video, it's a new way to avoid fake identity :)

First they will ask you to send your passport or drivers license,for them to check if you are living inside the U,S because no citizens should be joining any ICOs as to what the SEC's regulations they should all comply to it,because if they arent going to follow SEC's order they will face a lot of charges,that is why most of these projects are requiring you to send your IDs.

If it is the government who wants it then they should also be the one making the effort to do so.

Actually I have no idea but that is my opinion. One thing will be true. They will have our files now and wont be easy to escape in case something goes wrong.
Now about the fake ones, it will be the company first who should identify the credibility of the identification.
Bounty hunters would love that if the stakes will be shared to the legitimate wotkers.

I have no idea if that would work , but even if i had a work around i still wouldn't want anything to do with these projects. There are other and better way's to check identity's without asking people to send their ID's. But the biggest problem is people still sending them like it is nothing , they have no idea or don't think about what is gonna happen with their info, or who receives it. This is gonna backfire on a lot of people.

ICO that requires KYC are surely complying to the SEC's regulations which prohibits the U.S citizens from joining any of these ICOs because SEC wants to protect their people to potential scams like ICOs because we all know most of the ICOs are just raising funds and then will eventually scam their investors,KYC is really not necessary but if you want to get cheaper tokens you need to send your ID,or you can have fake IDS for your own safety.

The current KYC process is inefficient and a breach of privacy laws. If we can't have crypto without KYC then the least we can do is find ways to make it as painless as possible, minimizing privacy risks and maximizing efficiency. That's why I support blockchain ID projects like VeriMe.

it depends on the ICO, I done several ones and its quite annoying..

for example I had to verify myself on Netverify at least 3 times for 3 different ICO!

it would have made sense and save time to make an account just one time woth them instead!

I agree. Currently, the passage of KYC threatens the safety of people and this contradicts the principles of blockchain

Bullshit dude. It is up to you to know the law in your own country.  You agree to it when you invest. You don't need KYC you should know the law.

Very many in this forum speak out negatively about the KYC procedure, I will not break this tradition and simply add that people who share their personal data probably just do not understand what it can lead to.

KYC when you give only your personal details with passport its ok for me .You are not giving something more private like keys to your wallet
What can happen if they know your address?nOthing

At present it's very simple to send fake I.D. because they don't have the possibiity to verify any passport.
And - as it's very risky to send your data to unknown entity - for sure it's better to send fake ones.
But probably in the future this won't be possible anymore.
Bye bye privacy... :(

So most of the time, you can use the KYC verification, because they don't have any way to verify the correctness of the KYC information, because they don't get help from all countries, so most of the time, I think it is dangerous to submit KYC information,

come on dude don't make this sound funny honestly from a simple KYC of an ICO and later land yourself to be a terrorist on the news....

I dont even want to imagine the reaction of everyone that knows me and how all security wings would respond to this but I really think we should be cautious about this whole KYC process be this is not a light issue to brush off.

If the team really go through all the KYC, they will be able to spot out fake means of identification. There are so many things on the passport or government issued Id that can make someone to differentiate the original and the fake.

I don't know if they actually bother to verify, it would probably cost them money to check each application and it will take a long time administratively. The question is where people get these fake IDs, do people actually scour the dark web to find them?

This is the right statement and the right decision. In the ICO, they can only visually inspect the provided data and compare it. They have no authority to check them. Therefore, they only collect confidential information, for the safety of which they do not bear any responsibility. Due to its uselessness, they can sell it to various attackers. With such a large number of fraudulent ICOs, we also give them our identification data and copies of documents.
This is especially true for participants of the ICO generosity campaign. How can they launder dirty money if they don’t pay any of their money? This situation is absurd.

I think they look at your face, at your ID card and protective signs on it. I am not sure that on fake ID card will be appropriate protective signs.

It depends on the situation and who is in charge of the verification of the documents. But it is advisable to turn your official documents and not the doctored documents to ensure that your funds will not be hold or worst your funds get forfeited if found a fake document. 

You're right, everyone can still make fake passports or fake their personal identities. perhaps a good step is to provide evidence from the police that it never violates the law. but I think that makes them too busy.

I agree with this...we the ordinary ICO buyers, bounty hunters and the like are in danger because we are sharing our information and documents with people whom we are not sure what can do with those things we submitted into them. Until now, there is still no clear-cut solution for this dilemma. There must be a way where we can be authenticated without the need to submit to anyone those required documents and information. I am hoping that in 2019, we can be able to use the advantages of the blockchain technology for this situation.

but it could be minimize with making selfie photo by holding passport or national identity.personally i am  no agree cryptocurrency using kyc pass, becuase no regulation about crypto.

I believe that using your passport ID, they can check if your details are accurate. However, i also think that having the information is very important due to regulations. What is indeed important is knowing who is keeping your information as these days, identity fraud is very common

To verify KYC in crypto ICOs ,many of the project admin uses special verification tools like high intensive scanner machines to prove the authenticity of the provided documents by relating the information you have provided during the registration on their site to that of the provided documents.

That is indeed doing KYC is a pain, it's totally against the idea or cryptocurrency, that are build for anonymity. By doing KYC we'll be loosing that anonymity.
I really hope that we won't need to perform that KYC anymore.

Absolutely right. In my country there is a law on the protection of confidential information of citizens. My confidential information may be required from me only by specially authorized persons in specially provided cases. Why should someone violate this law only because the United States does not like its citizens to participate in ICO projects and thus they want to warn them against the possibility of material damage. Solving in this way, for their citizens, so that they don’t go where they don’t need, ICO teams violate the rights of all citizens of other states. Complete nonsense. In my opinion, it’s enough on the site to place an announcement that their government does not recommend US citizens to invest in ICO projects. And then let the citizens themselves decide what to do.
And at the same time they began to demand, just in case, to be tested by KYC in the participants of the ICO generosity campaign. And then why would they do this?

Check passes in the manual. They donate to the passport base, and if all the crafts in a row are not there, they will send you a notice that everything has passed normally. I also sent KYC, and now I have been waiting for the third week.

ICO teams practically only collect confidential information, they only check it visually, they do not have authority for more serious checking. This is not a law enforcement organization.
The very same test KYC is brought to the point of absurdity. It's vseravno that you go to the store to buy a pack of tea, and you are told that it is customary in them to do a KYC check and you must provide them with your data and copies of your documents. Will you go to this store after that? So maybe the ICO teams need to solve something with the need for such verification, and not indulge in several states just because they do not want their citizens to not participate in the investment of ICO projects? ICO teams require a humiliating test and at the same time want them to have a lot of investors.

Many important documents are verifiable, for example; in my country,  you can not have S drivers licence without capturing and all your bio information been recorded on a centralized server which is made available by relevant agency of government online which anyone can assess!

they verify based on the population card sent by investors to the ICO team. they see if the use of official documents will make the team believe and the integrity of the participants will be maintained. so I think verification of kyc by not won't be difficult and easy to do.