Bitcoin Forum

Hi guys,
Today I thought that many ICO are allowing to participate after KYC in which user has to submit national id, address proof and bank statement etc.
Isnt it risky?

There are many fully legal reasons to invest in an ICO, ranging from belief in the utility of a new piece of Crypto infrastructure to speculation on a coin’s rising value. Outside of these legal motivations, there is the practice of laundering fiat currency. Unfortunately, the ongoing lack of regulatory clarity means many people who wish to invest in a project for its intrinsic utility to disrupt established industries for the better feel they risk being treated as money launderers. So no its not risking your life as long the ICO you join is real company not some fake one that just try to stole your credential, all KYC process is to protect you. In some county its illegal to joinin ICO so they dont want to take a risk and sell it to person from that country.

You do not get any choice now as for most it is a requirement, i honestly think it is more to ensure the ICO company is following procedures and preventing AML. I have only used proof of address info such as utility bills, I am not sending my bank details to anyone.

The KYC procedure is not mandatory to use National id card, you always can use proof of address such as utility bill or else. Its kinda importan though, cause all KYC thing mean that company who runing a project doesnt want to get any trouble an any law problem.

The KYC/AML processes are legit and no joke.  The US government doesn't play around with that stuff.

for some ICOs its mandatory like ongoing DADI ico. I want to invest in it but problem is that they are demanding strict KYC, national id card and bank statement.

I think it will not be a problem, just what I think leads to future problems is token sale without verification of kyc, how will they audit?

I don't think giving the our identity to participate in ICO project will be dangerous because usually the ICOs projects that has good fundamental, innovations in the future. They always ask about the nation identity to all of investors, it will gives protection for the developer of ICOs and the investors and this way can minimalize the money laundry related with digital currencies. And it is good for the growth of ICOs.

They all are asking for that nowadays, so it is upto you to provide them those details or not. But yes, you need to fill up all that kind of stuff in order to be able to invest, and it happens in almost 9 of 10 ico's at the moment.

it could be risky somehow, depending on the type of project(because some people are scammers and can use your details in so many illegal ways).Others too, that's because of the legal reasons. Recently, regulations are always added to crypto by governments so every projectvdev wants to be safe for illegal troubles so that's vwhy they follow rules. At first, bounty hunters were free from KYC, but I once joined a campaign where they forced us to submit KYC details(all for legal protection)

But for now what is not difficult, to distinguish where the ICO is legit and fake?
I still doubt with ICO that should use KYC method. afraid our data is misused.

Your ID data can't be misused. KYC is the first step towards mass adoption. Projects with emphasis on privacy will never ask for KYC, but if you want to participate in public and legit projects KYC is a must.

Peculium ico should become a very good example what majority of people think about these cases. It's very risky if the developer can't be trusted. That's why the majority of people are doing deep research about ico before they are trying agree to complete KYC and AML requirement before participating in the ico. If you are feeling doubt and you can never try to do that.

It is actually risky if you cannot trust developers but I think all our data is already concealed and no need to worry.
Most people's all data are already breached in someway in some social media site over leaked passwords.

There is mix opinion but the only thing we can do is to submit IDs after doing research on the project. But yes, we cant be 100% sure that IDs are safe  :-\ :-\ :-\

Yes, I always think it's dangerous to submit KYC casually.
Because no one knows what the KYC data will be used for, and it is often seen that the ICO team is selling the KYC they get, so I think it's dangerous.

Extremely... I aint playing no retarded ID games, and if this stupidity is not ended soon, I shall be another ex crypto user... I hope all exchanges who try to force this ID stupidity go bankrupt, because we are not their customers and KYC stupidity does NOT apply...

We are the exchanges patrons, if we place an order we become the customer of the other user who is selling their assets, therefore KYC does not apply and will not be respected or tolerated!!!

There is always a risk - ask yourself whether you trust them not to get hacked and not to sell your details to the dark web.

If the answer is that you don't trust them, don't participate in the ICO, buy the coins when they later get listed on the exchanges (you might actually be able to buy cheaper).

i agree to this one dont go if you cant trust the developer. sending National id is very confidential because hackers or bad people use your identity to make scams and other illegal transaction so we need to be secure all of our ID's.

I wont invest in that because I won't be anonymous anymore.

I use KYC as a good sanity check.  If they are asking for it they are either in a regulated environment and comply with law (good), or a scam harvesting ids (very bad).  If you do enough research to exclude the second option, you're left with a good story.  

I must say I was really skeptical about it, still am in most cases but I do understand that KYC is a requirement, but I wouldn't really submit my documentation unless I have done enough research from my part to ensure that it's legit.

Yes its dangerous, its like they getting your information for free and can be used for anything else and how they want it. This is terrible than hackers since they are getting your information with the use of "legal requirement" in their country. How we gonna ensure that our information does not use in anything aside from our identity itself? Its too risky.

They have to do it if they don't want to get in trouble with legal stuff later on so it's understandable. If the project is really good i will do the kyc eventhough it's bothersome because if i wait later when it get listed in some exchange the price will be different. If you don't trust them then don't do the kyc and just buy the coin later on exchange.

I would say it really depends on the ICO you are participating in. It's perfectly normal to ask for KYC, and to try to know the origin of the funds to participate in investments, either in ICOs, or in exchanges. That should help reducing money laundry, and it will also be easier for governments to charge taxes that way. Of course that doesn't mean that you can trust that ICO, and you should be careful because leaking/selling ID verification documents could be profitable, you must really trust that ICO in order to do that.

A lot of ICOs will be regulated despite the fact that they are decentralized. It is not new and it is what we need to weed out the scammers from the space. Not all ICOs require your ID

KYC is a vital part of an ICO since the source of funds are in need of verification whether legitimate or not. Let's just be more cautious in selecting ICO's and do some research about their project. But if you are really hesitant, better join in their bounties to earn their coins or just wait for them to be available in exchanges.

Of course it is risky as they can use the data for bad things or it can be leaked but if you really want to participate in the ico then you should do that. They have to do it because crypto is starting to get popular and they don't want to get in trouble with local government. I don't mind do the kyc as long as I think the project is solid and won't do bad things with my data. You can also wait until the token enter some exchange if you don't want to do kyc.

The real ones are but how can you tell if someone will do it specifically for stealing your identity? You never know who is one the other side receiving your data.

Anything personal information shared online is risky. What i noticed is that people don't care if it is risky or not in as much they will use it to make money.

It is not mandatory to put your national id in every ICO KYC but you have to proved your identity and address proof.You can use your any utility bill as proof of residence.

I wouldn't bother. I don't trust any exchange to give them my dox info and I don't trust any ICO to give them my dox info as well. The point of crypto was to avoid having to do ridiculous things like having to take a selfie holding your ID, which can easily end up in the dark web and can easily be used by criminals posing as you. It's completely retarded and im not going to take that risk to invest in some ICO which most likely brings no real value into the field.

There are no guarantees at all that anybody from team will not sell/exchange your KYC data to any swindlers. The risk is always there.

Everything depends on the legislation of many countries. I think that in 2018 this practice will be of universal importance. Moreover, now more often for authorization in bounty campaigns are forced to go through identification and this is just the beginning. The bulk of ICO in today's market is American. There's no way to do without KYC. I think that this year the Chinese will return with their legislative base. The European Union has long been in this thread. I suspect that much will change this year.

Giving your personal information to a specific ICO is I think not a characteristic of a decentralize token as it breaks the sole purpose of it. Of course they can use your information if you give them so you must be so aware in why they are needing it in the first place because you will still the be the one to decide. I am not that active to those ICO's but I think they are really implementing safety measures nowadays and those investors must be more extra safe with this.

I'm willing to risk on it if I did my research about the project and the team. If I find them trustworthy then I'm more than willing to do it because I believe I have nothing to worry about.

I will not invest in these ico. I do not know if the ico is a success. what if he is unsuccessful. What happens with my data ?
These are still sold for a lot of money. and if you still send photos + ID! I think that's too dangerous.
then I would rather buy the token after the ico from the bounty people

yes, very risky. but some ico say this to prevent illegal transactions that include payments via credit card. yes, that's what I know from developer talks on telegram. their lawyers claimed, should include KYC verification. i've done it for some investment on ico. but it only only gives the Driving License 

Yes, the risk is always there, it depends on the ICO. I agree with most of the previous posts that you should only give your personal information to the reputable ICO that you trusted. They have required KYC to know the source of funds is legitimate. I support the implementation of KYC which will give both ICO and investors more protections from scammers.

It is risky because they have all your information, it could be used in any illegal activities if it handled by wrong people. I'd rather wait for it to be added on exchange rather than giving out my personal information that you don't even konw if it is worth the risk.

I prefer not to take part in such ICOs which requst my address and proofing documents for it. I think it not safe at all. The only site I trust is Bitcoin Suisse, but the verification process there is very complicated.

for those who cannot or choose not to do KYC,  you also have enterprising services such as this to ensure you can still get your favourite ICO tokens:  https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2805785.0

Indeed, the risks are high, specially if you end up with a Scam project.
Right now I noticed there are everal ICOs which are looking to address this kind of issues.

In good faith this is not bad for some ICO to ask KYC because for security reason,but need also to divulge some information for the identity of the team working with it, anyway most of the core team who work with project will be posted in the their white paper and showing their credentials. but for the sake of anonymity they should not divulge information of their investors if there are ways that we should just used some crypted codings to avoid KYC it might be a better way.

Ofcourse it is risky, i think ICO shouldn't require participants to fill up KYC because our personal information might be expose. And this kind of doing is against what Cryptocurrency is. Crypto requires us to be anynomous and to have privacy to protect ourselves to potential hackers and evil doers. I think this issue about KYC must be turned down, I hope that future ICO and/or Bounty will not require any KYC to join their program.

I don't think it is risky when you are not using it for any illegal business or what you are doing is not legitimately right. For ICO KYC it is not risky

I still didn't encounter any but I think it's too much especially for bounty hunters, providing bank statement is only applicable for investors.

I don't see any problem with that. Unless you are doing something illegal, in which case you can't really complain... there isn't really a risk in providing a photo of your ID. Identity theft is not as easy as it used to be and I doubt it can be done with a mere photo of your ID.

Yes, this is also a concern for me, because these KYC materials are submitted to the team, and we don't know what they did with the KYC data.
Even in private, I've seen some ICO teams start selling KYC data in large Numbers, which sounds terrible, and may require new laws to regulate it.

He is a newbie and offering these type of services. This is enough for a red flag.
Don't invest in a service like those, stay away if possible.
Do your KYCs legally and participate in ICOs

I am not against KYC, but what happens if some scammers run an ICO just to collect these personal data and intend to use it for malicious goals? This is my concern and I am very picky with the ICOs I give my trust to.

To be honest in the crypto world everything is risky because the whole game runs on the anonymous blockchain. Speaking about the KYC verification, if the former company which is asking for your KYC is registered legally with the government or any legal entity then we should be safe while submitting our details. The things is our KYC info is actually critical and contains all the personal info about us. So your question is valid and must be taken seriously. If we any doubt about the ICO then we should think twice before submitting our KYC to that firm. So its really precautionary step and must be looked over seriously.

No problem with national ID. As long as the ico dev is trusted keep the privacy.

Although KYC compliance may help issuing ICOs reach a larger audience and expand the number of jurisdictions in which they can participate, I think its risky to give your documents for ICO.

Why would you trust anyone your own ID? I would only show my ID to gov. organisations/law enforcements/banks and in the future to a solid crypto exchanger. People should never send their ID to other organisations, fraud bells going off when they ask for any ID.

Yes, I do not think there are any risks . The usual procedure in many areas has long been conducting it, so it's not surprising that now our companies began to conduct it. I personally am completely calm about this and I send documents

Why most ICOs organizers  and exchangers ask for means of identification is to track any form of fraudulent art from participant in the crypto community.

There is nothing dangerous in this is a very common procedure.Of course, not very pleasant that anonymity is lost, but we cannot do anything here

While it is not known, I think that, on the contrary, many will stop participating in ICO. To attract a wider audience, this may not work. Full centralization, which contradicts the very principle of the crypto currency. As soon as big money began to flow into this sphere, they decided to take control, until it was too late.

this is a double-edged sword and i think this could work in our favour or against us because now we have seen a growing number of ICOs requiring their participants to undergo KYC to avoid any legal confrontations as regulators have  made this to be a must-do requirement  and the bad part of KYC is if the project a scam we might be exposed to identity theft but we just ought to be extra cautious who we share our info with.

I think  i prefer not to take part in such ICOs which requst my address and proofing documents for it.
 I think it not safe at all. The only site I trust is Bitcoin Suisse, but the verification process there is very complicated.

What happens if you have paid and later kyc is required. if you do not do it .. you get your eth back or are the eth lost if you do not want to do kyc. Does anyone know what it's like then?

Oh.. really? Frankly surprised. Therefore ICO projects try to check our ID and citizenship? They don't want have a problem with US Gov. :)
Reminded same in fiat world called FATCA. Almost all banks in the world must notificate to US Gov when US citizen wants to open an account

I have to say that I'm really skeptical. But they have to do it if they do not want to get any legal issues later, that's understandable. Let's be more careful about choosing ICOs and researching their project. You can also wait until the token exchanges if you do not want KYC. then the token are often cheaper if you're lucky

There is no risk in it as long as it is sent to a reliable and regulated exchange or online service. It is with only this that anti money laundery is checked and know your customer policy is enforced.

Of course it's a risk.  I would say that it's a big risk if you send your docs to scamers. Sometimes there are breaches of information even for some legit ICOs. Today we need to be very carefully. But I think that very soon we will see I'd on blockchain with more security features.

Most ICO that have KYC turned out successful and most of them are SOLD-OUT, KYC is one of the main things in ICO these days, though i am not telling you to take out the risk of having some identity theft especially if the ICO turned out to be a scam or any member of a team run away with that information. all in crypto is at risk.

Well, how if the ico goes scam? and its dev sell our data to someone who will use it for something criminal? anything can happen
I wouldn't give my identity unless it's really worth

Yes , there is a potential risk that your personal data could be stolen by hackers , or just could be sold to third parties by a scammy ICO . This could lead to serious consequences , because I know it is possible to take a bank credit using stolen personal data and it could be a real trouble.

It can be dangerous. Some are legit projects but some aren't. They can use, sell and many other illegal or beneficial acitivities.

Nowadays, kyc was being implemented anyhow in every ico arise in this industry. Where the investors don't have a choice but to follow what's the rules they have. This maybe to avoid scam that's why its happening, isn't right?

Just think about it. You gave them, an unknowns and trust less company all your personal identification, only to support their useless coins. Well, I won't risk any my privacy buddy. It's getting ridiculous if we need do a KYC verification when participated in ICO.

Indeed! It was extremely risky but seems most people don't care as long as they are making money out of it! Only in 2014, more than $15 billion were lost for the case of Identity Theft and are increasing every year! Even the legitimate giant Facebook.com might sell your data anytime without your consent!
Believed me, KYC and the Greed for Money will eventually kill the Crypto market!
Let's just support this Decentralized Technology guys established by Satoshi Nakamoto and the money will follow later! 8)

This process (KYC) to indentify your personal information, to do the Anti Money Laundering of many Government. And you need find some project with clearly team behind and carefully before give your information to them.

Giving the data ourselves to other parties indirectly we have provide an information about ourselves and our existence. As a requirement for KCY it has become a procedural procurement that aims to ascertain who and where their investors. I am sure they are the same as the world of the banking world that protects the data of its customers from abuses. As long as there are no obstacles or rogue elements I am sure our identity is secure in place. Make a sure your identity given only to trusted and legit ICO's.

Actually I also do not fully trust the KYC system. The use of KYC for bounty hunters should not be applicable. Except only for investors who keep their money in the ICO. But I have already followed the project with KYC and I do not know what to do next.

I don't think that there is a risk in National ID submission for ICO KYC.  The government has implemented a requirement for ICO to submit KYC to regulate and know the location of a person joining its bounty or token sale.  There are countries that are banned in joining a bounty or token sale and the necessity to know if a person is legible or not is necessary.  It is advisable therefore that you must make necessary research and confirmation before joining an ICO to protect from being phish.

Nope this is not right its so much risky submitting our identity card of ICO as well as the bounty crypto because there are some possibility that we will suffer identify theft in the near future we just have to stay away somethings sometimes

Its the most foolish thing someone can do. Just recently the Dadi ICO got hacked and all the KYC details of people who submitted to that ICO got stolen. Now think about your passport or any other personal document getting into the hands of hackers.

That is true, you have no other choice if you want to join in. I think that is a little risky since there are too many ICO scams. I Would like to buy them when it is listed on some exchanges.