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Hi guys, as many of you already know, many ICOs are asking for passport verification. Is it safe to give pictures of your passport to groups we don't even know well, I mean there is something called passport misuse and identity theft or even using you passport for loans! It is concerning.

There are really ICO that do need documents for KYC which if you decide to invest then you should follow on their terms or on what they do require.If you arent comfortable with that then you can just simply skip that ICO and jump into other one but if you are a risk taker then you can proceed.Its all way up to you and we wont know if those informations accumulated would be used into other purpose no one knows actually this is why submit documents for your own risk.

I think it is safe, it is just one of the requirements in a system of Know Your Customer also what we called KYC System.

You will have to read your country`s legislation regarding cryptocurrencies and ICOs.
If you want to buy tokens from some ICO located in another country,you will have to read that country`s legislation.You just have to be familiar with this info,before you decide to invest into any project.
I would never send my ID/passport info to any ICO,it doesn`t matter if it has KYC policy or no.

You're sending your info to complete strangers who are probably anonymous and incompetent to boot so no, it's not safe. You could pre empt them and pop on to the dark web and buy the details of someone else's passport then everyone wins.

As KYC gets more uptight I expect there'll be some properly run services dedicated to it that you verify yourself once with. Then all the shit holes can tap their information.

This can become customary as more and more ICOs are complying with the KYC (Know Your Customer) requirements as set by some regulations of the country they are based at. We should not be surprised at this though of course we should be concerned because of the possibility of identity theft which can happen to anyone anytime. We have no choice actually if we want to be a part of a project because many of the good ICOs are already implementing this requirement. Otherwise we can choose not to be a part of that project requiring documents to be submitted digitally.

I hear about this for the first time. To be honest, I don't consider this to be safe. Still, we'll see how this will turn out.

In Internet nothing is safe. Investing in ICO is also risky. It is impossible to know someone else's intentions. But it changes nothing. You will have to risk the security of their data to participate in the project. Now this life. You can't hide your personal data from public authorities and banks. You can be sure that hackers will not steal your data from there? You can only assess the risk and to take measures for safety.

yes thats right, if you want to to be a part of there project then follow the requirement they need. it all up to you if you want to give your identity or not. if you think that your not safe if you give your real identity then dont be a part of them. fine another ico which is real identities not required.

Hell No! No matter how good the project is I wont still proceed on participating that ICO which do require any documents specially passport because these kind of ID's is really very personal and shouldn't really be shared or let it to public since there would really be a risk that those information would leak out its either they would be the ones who do use such informations or they are being compromised by hackers and getting all of the passport details have been accumulated and sell out on dark market.You wouldn't even know that your identity is being used up by others.

I think you should not go for that ICO if you are not confident on there terms and conditions and if you don't think that the team is genuine. Asking for a passport and its information is a lot to ask for an ICO and some people don't want to reveal there identity and there country so there is no point to give so much of your details to anyone.

Why they need passports for investing on an ICO,I think is is not necessary to give to to invest on an ICO and many ICOs are not asking any proof from the investors.Maybe theyr are asking to confirm the nationality of the investors because in some countries,citizens were totally banned form participating ICOs.BUt I feel it is not safe to provide passport to someone,they may misuse our information.

I think we should just skip ICOs that are KYC oriented. No one can simply say what they will be used for and when you look at things deeply, we should be concerned of identity theft.

I say no on a broader prospect. ICO is a very controversial method of raising funds and banned in USA and China. I have seen a numbers of ICOs those who have ran away with investor's money or never came back with the promised product. So I don't personally feel safe to share my identity information with the ICOs.

I am not saying that all ICOs are scam but just to save my own data, I don't feel safe to share my identity information with them. Because we don't know are they going to be a legal one or an illegal one. So I would avoid such ICOs who ask for ID verification for the investors. However, it is just my personal opinion and may differ from others here.

If only to participate in an ICO I think passport is not a major requirement, you have to be careful about giving identity to strangers. There are many ICO projects out there, you can choose a safe ICO project and do not make suspicions on yourself.

I would go as far as to say that if they are requesting a passport verification (i assume this is for KYC purposes) that the ICO and the team behind is reasonably legit as they are looking to cover their backs against countries that have bans on ICOs or sales of securities without prospectus or registration. With more scrutiny from regulators globally we will likely see more projects looking for full KYC processes. What do you have to do to get registered to deposit fiat at an exchange? Most reputable ones require photo identification, address and a raft of personal details.

i think is safe , but in KYC purpose u can choice , u use pasport or other license , but if u afraid about for pasport verify, u can choose the other ICO project no need pasport verify , regard

I’m also a security freak and don’t give my identity in this manner, so I always skip unworthy project but those  with great ICO and trusted team then i believe there’s no breach of malicious intent so I provide if necessary. So the choice is always in your disposal and being afraid of any misuse of your information is normal but it is part of the risk we take to earn. It’s up to your decision on what is right or wrong in your personal judgment.

Yes, most of the reputable ICO are following this news system in order to control the hacks before proceeding the ICO. This the best way to conduct the ICO in order to secure fund and flow of people investment, this is going to be another record to the company when banks ask for the question.

It has been one of the condition for purchasing ICO, most of the ICO now are heavy regulated, so it has becone requirements to buy ICO, I dont feel safe to hand over my identity to unknown site, but now most of exchanges now also require kyc documents, so if you still want to stay in crypto world, one day you will also need to hand over your identity

most people are still liked anonymous so provide them the passports isn't good option also nobody can ensure our personal ID will not abused by them and i have to says this is risky so i think that's quite dangerous and currently there are plenty of ICO which is not required passport as their main term and better leave those ICO

I don't know why they reason asking the passport for ICOs? For me not guarantee is safe, because we must know why they asking the passport and for what? If their requirement like that, we must learn their requirement and see how many people invest in there (like testimony) and learn carefully their rules, requirement, payment etc. If all is ok you can joint, and you will be more success.

That's the purpose of KYC(Know your Customer) policy which most common document or ID be submitted is passport since this can really be considered as an international document just my own view. They do impost this because they are being told to do so. They claim that they do this thing for the sake of avoiding money laundering and other illegal stuff involving large sums of money invested.

I agree with you...we must know the reason why the ICO ask for our password...and the inly reason I know is that they are requiring is the passport for the know your customer system or what we called kyc...but there is no assurance that this is safe because the bad people may take the opportunity to use this system for scamming us.

It can be and can't be. Safety of the data depends upon the ICO authentication.
Most of the ICO's for KYC nowadays. ICO's being a global investment tool ask for a valid identity proof which can be recognized globally. Passport and Driving licence is the most globally recognized identity proofs. But again it all depend upon ICO.

People can really make their own choice actually if they don't like to disclose their identity they can choose up not to participate on such ICO and search up for another one which doesn't require any id. Passports and licenses are the most common thing been asked on verifying your identity and assurance or security of those informations exposed isn't a guarantee either they do make use of them or other people(hackers) would breach and get those information's.

It is not. Once you put something in the Internet it tends to stay there forever. I would be afraid to give my official email containing my real name to those people. It's better to be safe than sorry, really.
Do you even know what random people can do with your ID, especially a passport, which unlike a typical ID or a driver's license is recognized internationally? I'll give you a few examples.
-sell it to people who specialize in trading and manufacturing fake documents
-use it to get a credit in your name
-use it to cross the border posing as you
-use it to register on other crypto exchanges
-launder money
-register a fake company
-get a bank account
And a lot more!

It is safe as long as the project and the team are legit, so on this period we must be careful on the ico we are investing because we might face some people that will take advantage of our identities and might be used for illegal reasons. this kyc thing for me i think is too risky but so far i don't heard any news about identity theft coming from a kyc so it must be safe.

I advise most of my ICO clients that AML - and its subset KYC, and its subset CIP requires certain qualitative and and at least one third party verification of that qualitative information. Passports tend to be more reliable than driver's license/ID.

So, i would contend that it is not unusual or improper to ask. Could it in theory be used in a fraudulent manner, of course - but every time you use a debit card you are also opening yourself up to some sort of fraud

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I am not comfortable with the idea of giving my passport and any other personal information. It's very risky and might put ourselves into possible identity theft. If there are other ICOs who wouldn't require that then I would go for that.

If ICO is legit then it is safe to send the picture of your passport as all legit ICO are now required now to apply KYC to their investors and participants so therefore be sure that your research and review well your ICO profile as it is not a scam project to ensure the safety of your identity.

i will never provide my pasport to all those russian Ico

I'm start to wonder also why a lot of ICO's now asking passport,I thought cryptocurrency is anonymous?

For my own opinion i think not safe at all.

Hello!
I think, cryptocurrencies are the best thing to stay safe and anonim. Why actually not?
I don't wnat to show my pass.
I respect freedom. The most important thing for me in life are 4 types of freedom:
- Locaction;
- Personal Time:
- Financial;
- Inner.

And all i do I want to do in that form!

What's wrong with KYC? The developers have decided to do so and this is their right.This becomes a common rule, more and more campaigns use KYC.It seems as backwards to distribute tokens and then make everyone pass KYC,when if they did it first they would thwart anyone who can’t pass.

There are so many ICO's, and many of them are not asking for passport, so you can decide to shun those ones requesting for passport if you are not sure of what they are upto

Most ICO now are requiring those kinds of document for identity purpose in requirements to KYC and AML regulations than had been implied lately by certain organizations. I think it is safe as long as you are into participation of legit ICO's it would just be as safe as when you pass your personal documents to HR department when applying a job or to bank when openning a bank account.

This KYC requirement for ICO investors has come into light after the regulations from South Korea where every exchange should have KYC against each wallet. So I think new ICOs are trying to be more regulation compliant in the eyes of the regulators.

South Korea has done this basically for tax purpose and preventing money laundering as there is exchange with fiat currency involved. However, in case of ICOs, a person can easily transfer his/her cryptocurrency from KYC completed wallet to another new anonymous wallet without breaking a sweat. So blockchain developers and regulators would have to come up with something entirely different.

ICO is most definitely not BANNED in the USA.  KYC and AML are two mechanisms which are being integrated into ICO to ensure the integrity of the ICO and protect the investor.  ICO are moving toward being treated as Securities but this does not mean they are banned.  You must simply comply with the legislation under the SEC.

What you should know about an ICO asking for this level of identification is if they are in the USA and plan to advertise to Americans for fundraising.  This KYC and AML will most certainly be required in the near future and many ICO are agreeing to start without having to be mandated. 

If this is NOT an ICO in the USA advertising to Americans then you might just ask them if it is required since you are not American passport holder and they may allow you to invest without these requirements.

But I would guess it is just easier to ask from anyone investing in the ICO and not try to sort through each request.

Additionally you are going to see much more of this and should be prepared to adjust accordingly.

I think these are the good steps being taken in order to secure investor, We must take this as positive and I think there is no  harm if we provide docs like passport, identity cards for verification.

Of course it is not safe, many icos are scams, and I would not be surprised if they are using the new regulation regarding these policies and are going to take advantage of it and sell those documents in the future, if an ico ask for those documents look for another coin, it is that simple, do not tolerate this behavior and if you still want to invest in the coin wait after the ico and buy the tokens from other people that way you do not have to give your documents to anyone.

I get that it is a part of KYC policy or requirements however the passport contains information which may be potentially used for scams or identity theft. It's nice that valid identification is not made a requirement to invest in ICOs however there should be safeguards to give some protection for the investors as well. We can't impose this since you have the liberty anyway to back out or choose not to invest in that certain ICO if you are not willing to share your passport information, the risk will be in your own hands anyway.

I think these are the good steps being taken in order to secure investor, We must take this as positive and I think there is no  harm if we provide docs like passport, identity cards for verification.
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I agree.  If you really want to be assured you are not being scammed, this is what the landscape will look like for ICO very soon.  Likely to be more requirements and identifications not just a passport. 

In my opinion, this is what you want.  The ability to steal your identity requires more than just your passport information or driver license information.  Is this is a start? Yes.  But no financial institution or credit company will take just the photo of you passport and extend you a line of credit.  You have to provide much more than only this. 

What you want to do is look for an ICO with a strong security advisor in place.  Someone who has experience in Government Security or Tech/Network Security.  Anyone with security experience will tell you (even if they do not have a strong TECH Security Background) that segregation and compartmentalization is essential to protecting information.  Especially coupled with encryption.  So find the ICO that takes this stuff seriously and your personal information should be well protected. 

yes,it is safe,it is neccesary for ico,they can be know custumor,and if you are citizen of some country then ban,you can ppl ico of them

Its your own choice if you would take the risk or not if you do find out that its really worth to invest on that certain ICO then its your choice as long you do know the risk about on the document that you have given into them. Its not really totally safe when you do give any information on this online world anyone can steal it and use it on other purposes which would really put you in trouble.

Before you send out your passport or any Id's to a complete stranger on the internet. ask them first to send you their passport or show their true identity.  KYC process should begin with the owners. Ask them to post their Passport publicly.

I have never seen a passport registration request.but I would certainly not share my information, I think it's too risky..

I would rather find another good ICO than compromising my identity to any strangers in the internet even if they say it's part of the KYC policy because the government told them. Never ever expose your identity to any strangers over the internet, you will never know if you have been sold already at the black market or someone would be using your identity already by copying all of your information.

Maybe it is safe. If there is an agreement for the document they going to ask so that we have proof in this terms of conditions that this is a legal project. Better to know the projects before you fill or pass about your identity to the project. So better research about the project and joined if this is a legal.

if you are not sure about the ico then dont give your identity. some ico required passport copy as one of the KYC requirements. if you are doubtfull of giving a copy of your identity you have the right to live and find another ico which is not strickly required your real identity.

Of course not. Some hire photoshop experts for that so good luck.

Even myself will definitely pass into this ico and will proceed into another one and I have been doing this for years already on joining up ico and as I have observe to those past projects that is to strict in KYC policy haven't any progress as of now for most of them which I do considered as failure. People doesn't really like on having too strict compliance specially on exposing their identity to someone.

I don´t think it is safe. I´m sure there are some ICO´s, or there will be, that are going to abuse this info in some way. They can take loans on those documents, forge fake passports / ID´s or sell them to whoever is interested.

I disagree with the passport just to complete the KYC process of an ICO. I mean that is you, your personal information that that must be private and you would just give it to a stranger's website just to buy his tokens? It was insane. That information can be used on illegal activities specially fraud. Stay safe, if you think that that website won't harm you and the team was great or better you know them really well, then you can go but stay safe.

I found quite interesting service called ICOSID.

They say that you could apply there for all KYC procedures only once and then be able to participate at many ICOs without the further KYC-related steps.

When I'm will make ICO, also think about to ask passport for verification ::)

Was excited for the project until this KYC bullshit.I'm not against KYC,but they want us to contribute first and then KYC.If we fail KYC tokens get locked up and we aren't refunded.That's bullshit and the opposite of trustless smart contracts.This ICO removed everything that made ICOs gain traction.

Of course, such procedures are unsafe, you provide personal information to unknown persons. I think in the near future there will be safe mechanisms for such procedures.

I don’t think they will do that but for me if they ask too much information that can be a scam so you better stay away from that. Don’t be greedy when participating on any ICO always protect your personal information so you will not suffer later on, look for good ICO instead.

it frightens me personally, but I continue to participate, because I believe and hope for a good salary.

It is NEVER safe to send your information to a 3rd party.
 
Be very cautious & truly determine if a couple of dollars is worth it.

There was no passport requirement in the old days, this kind of difficulty appeared in the near future, I certainly do not share my passport information, but the choice is yours.

The main argument that I hear though is that those ICO's that are requiring passports or ID for verification is trying to curb out multiple accounts joining their bounties. But I guess those cheaters will always find a way to get away with this new system in place. I haven't join any bounties but I'm not going to send my personal details to anyone. And for those who are willing to do so, its your risk and yes your choice. Many are going to bounties because they say its profitable, but guess what, your personal identification will now be compromise, but if you think that that's fine with you as long as you can get huge financial gains then the choice is yours.

That is a term of the contract that whoever wish to carry on would provide but this KYC strategy is not to say that the ico might still not turn into fraud in the future.

Personally , I do not see anything in giving out passport in trying to either register or carry on with a business transaction of such, afterall we send or fill our passports while trying to get admission into school in another country, scholarship, embassy etc. We should however guide on releasing our passwords.

Many of the ICO's are required KYC now a days. But in this era of many fraudulent ICO's, it is a serious matter of concern that providing our Identity card can be bit dangereous as they may misuse or sell our information to some other agency which might harm us some way or other.But till now I haven't heard of any such incident so can't really say anything. I suggest you not to share your ID's and info on telegram groups.

This is pretty common now with ICOs, but I always pass. No way will I be sending my information to these ICOs. I'd rather just pay full price for the coin/token on exchanges. IJS...

I don't think it really safe, giving your passport information to any group, because if this fall into the hands of wrong person they might use it illegally. There are some ICOs that really requires passport identification but it is risky especially if that ICO turn to scam or their site is being hacked and all information are taken by hackers. Passport contains some valuable information and you should be extra cautious when a  online site requires your passport for online verification.

I think they are seeing if you are able to participate in the ICO because not all of them are allowed to sell their offerings to certain countries such as residents of the united states and china from what I have seen lately as they state in their main disclaimer to those who want to buy their tokens during their ico sale.

Is it safe?  Sir Laurence Olivier posed that very same question to Dustin Hoffman in the film, Marathon Man.
As for the passport, I'm not so certain that it is safe. 

Since the very conduct of ICO is not controlled by anyone and any scammers that disappear with the collected money of investors still require the provision of your identification data and copies of passports, then this information and copies of passports can be used anywhere. Of course, given that almost half of the ICO is fraudulent, it's pretty dangerous.

In the United States and some other countries, relevant regulations have been enacted, requiring those who invest their funds in the ICO to pass an appropriate KYC review. However, it is bad that in this case the ICO projects and their team are not checked or examined in terms of possible fraud, and given that about a third of the ICO's conducted last year were clearly fraudulent, they pass on their identification data and copies of passports very dangerous. It is not known where and how this information and copies of passports can be used.

Until the ICO is regulated and allows investors to be fully protected against possible fraud by the ICO team, until then, providing such companies with their identity and copies of passports will pose a significant danger to their owners. If the state requires such information, it must also take steps to ensure that such information does not fall into criminal hands. While this does not happen, and hence there is a potential opportunity to use such information in illegal transactions and even serious crimes.

In the course of some ICO campaigns, sometimes they require the provision of their identity and copies of passports from investors and members of the generosity campaign. We can not know how these personal data and copies of our documents can be used later, and since last year more than a third of the ICO campaigns turned out to be fraudulent, it's quite unsafe. No one can guarantee that these data will not be used for any unlawful purpose, especially since they can fall directly into the hands of criminals.

The requirement to pass the KYC check for the participants of the signature campaign is generally illegal because the essence of such a check is to exclude the investment of funds obtained by criminal means and participation of citizens of those countries where such participation in ICO campaigns is prohibited by law. Signature campaign participants are not investors and therefore there is no sense in requiring them to undergo such a check. ICO companies use this, usually after the completion of the ICO, in order to not pay earned tokens to those who do not want to undergo such verification.

It is not safe to share your data with others. But we can't not do that. We are constantly asked to show the documents. Total surveillance of citizens has become the norm for the government. Exchanges also require account verification. Many exchanges have already been hacked by hackers. Stolen money can be seen immediately. But copying the database is invisible. For this reason, our data has long been walking on the network.

But the question is not all ICO/companies/teams are not regulated which means it doesnt really assure into those investors who do send those documents.So this means decision will depend if they will risk or not to give those info.If the team is regulated then it is good but not still safe or we can say 100% that those info wont leak even it is already a regulated ICO informations wont really ever be safe once being submitted.

Of the 902 conducted last year by the ICO, about a third of the projects turned out to be fraudulent. And this means that there is a great risk that our identification data and copies of passports fall into the hands of criminals when testing KYC. It is not necessary to hope that they will not use our data with a bad intention. I think that providing such data and copies of their passports to ICO companies is very dangerous. This danger has only been lowered if the ICO is regulated and controlled, which will protect against fraud.

Experienced it as well and I think it is regular for ICOs who are based on a country that requires identification for its customers. It is prevalent to ICOs with their own Wallet and Apps as they are considered as a currency used for payments. I recently joined an ICO which they are offering a token as a reward system and they have required a brief verification process, which they have reasoned out is a requirement asked by the government, they are just complying to the law. But be careful to what ICOs you are sending your infos as some of them just wants to gather your information.

I'm not against KYC,but they want us to contribute first and then KYC.If we fail KYC tokens get locked up and we aren't refunded.That's bullshit and the opposite of trustless smart contracts.This ICO removed everything that made ICOs gain traction.

That is something quite intriguing too, if those documents or personal details will be leak I think bad things might happen in general. To be honest KYC doesn't support the anonymity of every investors, it is a risky thing to do and maybe dig deeper first if your details will be safe before you do such thing.

Glance with this thread it is a helpful one too for this kind of topic.
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2946614.0

hi guys, im new to icos but i realized that most of the times i cannot buy as much tokens as i want. I read about this mkk pool https://discord.gg/FHKZGGX yesterday, they organize kind of a pools for pre-sales? Has anyone heard of them? Any experience? Are they trustworthy?