Bitcoin Forum

Hello, guys !

There is very relevant problem - a lot of projects are doing their ICOs and a big part of them require KYC submission.
I am, as a person, I'm afraid of stealing my personal data. I am, as maybe all of you, trying to find way to prevent thefting my data.
The question is, how about providing the text, while providing your docs in KYC Verification. The text will be ON this pictures of my docs, half-transparent font.
For example

https://thumb.ibb.co/g5RXTn/Capture.jpg (https://ibb.co/g5RXTn)

Have you ever been trying this ? Does it work ?
Please, tell me your thoughts, I will be glad very much.

That is a very big worry for all of us, but it seems that what you want to do is to add some kind of watermark to your documents right? I am not an expert when it comes to manipulating images or something like that, but I suppose it's very easy to take off that watermark, it should be a piece of cake for the professionals that have the knowledge and the skills about how to use tools like Photoshop.

Obviously for any verifications, it will not passed. The picture must be cleared and well detailed. Maybe you can put that on bottom part and see if it will passed.

Now since KYC is part of mandate of a "legit" ICO, people have no choice but to comply with the rules. If afraid, then don't participate. To minimize somehow the deepest information you have, I think public ID is enough or those who does only have a limited information. Just don't send them your bank details , passports or any thing that can be considered same as that.

Now we can't do anything but trust in the ICO KYC process? I have been doing KYC as of now but nothings have ever been stolen from me. I guess I only have passed my documents to trusted ones. What if we add dates on what day we have taken up the picture? Maybe it will just be edited if there will be someone to stole it. I have ideas in my mind how to authenticate that the documents are mine, suddenly there are ICOs that are now making that happen.

You are right, but I think, that not everyone thief has skills in Photoshop or kind of this and in the case he has, it will take your time to remove watermark.
If could decrease the chance of stealing your information, if it will able to pass KYC.

I am afraid that the date in bottom part will be deleted easily by cropping. And this procedure is quick very much.

Well first of all it doesn't sound like you're willing to trust many people in this industry, as you have every right to fell that way.
The only problem with that mentality is that since it is very easy for people to scam in crypto, sometimes KYC is absolutely necessary.
Sure it can be annoying but as long as you are who you claim to be, I wouldn't be too concerned.
This is, of course, only after you've researched the ICO you are going to invest in.

That what we are worying about with the kyc it can crush about bitcoin or cryptocurrency ecosystem from anonymously and that also make some problem about stolen data

If you are not comfortable in participating in an ICO because of the KYC process, and you really want to hide your identity. There are so many ICO that do not need KYC before taking part in the ICO. You can go for ICO that do not require KYC since there are so many project doing ICO.

It's good idea to add a watermark to the KYC documents to prevent identity theft, however it will not pass if they are strict on it. KYC is something that puts investors off the project so better to stick to ones that don't require it, unless it is a sure thing like the telegram ico.

KYC is really an issue with ICOs and something you should always not be willing to give right away. I am not sure if you put text over your picture that they are going to accept your photo. Simply because it can clearly been sean that you have edited it and most of them require just an image an nothing more or less.

If you are really that much concerned you may want to look up for ICO pools, which are basically where many "small investors" join their money and one registers for ICO and at the end share the tokens. But these have their own risks as well and honestly I haven't tried any of them so I can't really vauch how good are they. But I've heard they exist.

It may be very difficult to talk about KYC, maybe this system is very good, but I am confused that there are some projects, hunting the participants shows evidence of payment of water or electricity, but the problem is, that not everyone who joined the campaign already aged, and 100% that all participants are still easy, and the payment proof is certainly in the name of their parents, not on their behalf, so this is what makes many people confused by the requirements.

recently i have tried this watermark method.  :D so i will update here if there was a problem with adding watermark.
By the way i think it good to not cover the picture of your with the watermark!

It would be really great if there was a pre-verification organization that would collect this data and the sole job of this company would be to protect it and be transparent about its uses within the system. Then, similarly to Captcha, there would be a single-point verification process so that the information isn't actually being spread, instead, it would be like a stamp of approval by widely trusted source.

Hmmmmmmm... maybe this is my million dollar idea.

But the data is still being handed over. The watermark will only show on the image you sent. All a thief has to do is copy the data. I think you are right to be afraid. When I see ICO I assume it is a scam.

If you simply must and take a foolish risk participate in an ICO then you should make absolutely sure that the business is a legal business with a license on file. If they don't have that and they are asking for KYC information then it is surely a scam.

I don't worry about it, because I am a fair player.

Ok, Let's assume you add the watermark, what would be the idea behind it. Do you want to prevent them from re-using the

same documents for something else? Any person with some good Photoshop skills will remove that watermark and then

re-use that information on another site. Most other sites where this information is required, do not have experts in document

analysis to spot this, because the admin is done by normal clerks.  ::)

It is sad >:(
Thank you for info about existing of this pools.


Of course, they have my data, but, following this idea, they will not able to use your image with your ID, right ?

My intent is to prevent using my images with ID by thiefs in their own purposes. There is nothing bad in trying to defend my data And avoid problems, connected with this kind of stealing. Thank you, for your opinion !


At this stage of topic, I believe that it is good way, but my docs couldn't be accepted. That's a problem.

You have understood me well. I had written my thoughts about it before. Write me back, with the thoughts, what do you think about it.

mostly investors have to go through KYC and there is no need for bounty hunters to go through KYC in most cases. if KYC required you can just skip this campaign.

First of all it is necessary to choose those companies which don't give a reason to doubt the reputation. And the second - drawing the watermark through the photo since the copy of the document can be important, information from the document can be got also in other ways :)

This method is most likely to work for people who steals identity from other people, but what about people who purchases other people's KYC documents and then use it on sites?
That could be a problem that you will be unable to solve unless you will require your customers to register with a bank account/credit card that is attached to their profile and then there will be zero chance of someone who stole an identity to actually be able to use the site.

i believe that with a photo of the document of this kind and a writing like that unfortunately you will never pass the kyc verification, however i am against this procedure seems to me a limitation of freedom and i think goes against the principle of anonymity of the crypto...

How do you know that? You can't be sure until something actually gets stolen. Do you believe that your data will remain there for a month or 2 and then disappear? No, whatever you put in the Internet will remain there. Sure, there are cases of really legit and honest people who delete your pictures and scans right after verification, but you should always prepare for the worst.

With KYC security we can not steal because of the identity of the documents of trusted users. I have an idea in my mind how to authenticate that document is mine. 8)

I have already spoke against this system, where it was debated why KYC is important. You can check here :

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=3116739.msg35581672#msg35581672

KYC might help the ICO but it will not help the users who submit their details, as their identity is under risk. No, matter how secure system the company provides there is always risk of scam and hackers stealing our information. Crypto currency is a thing we deal all over the globe and not just one city or country, even if you security gets compromised and misused you will never know. Hence, companies should come with come a better solution than KYC.

Yes you are right. there is some stealing your data. But nevertheless, you have to provide all valid data for the process. It would be better if you choose the reliable one who might not steal your data and well reputed in the industry. And in the form, making the info transparent could be a good idea. 

As far as I know nobody has done that yet, though that seems to be a really good idea.
Why don't you suggest it the ICO telegram groups you are participating in?
Writing directly to admins?

actually should be like that, not forcing to look for identity of someone who can not be accounted for later. however identity is a secret that needs to be maintained.

Yeah, you are right, the high risky ICOs I will try to avoid passing KYC.

If you are afraid to provide your personal data and copies of documents while checking KYC, you can use any other documents that are in large numbers on the Internet. I know that many now do so. In general, I think that the requirement to undergo such a check against the participants of the ICO generosity campaign is illegal, because we do not invest in such projects and can not launder dirty money. I have not yet seen any campaign that sucked on any regulatory document that gives them the right to require me to provide such data. My country has a law on the protection of personal data and this case does not fit into this law.

yes, this is part of what we are worried about, data theft or used as an illegal activity. but certainly not much we can do. because if it does not include KYC we do not get the token. but basically we can find out an ico involving KYC or not. it's just that most tend to ignore it.

This is absolutely right, even with the watermark they are still going to be in possession of your information and they can do whatever they want with that, this is why it is very important to do our due diligence on icos and unless we are completely convinced that the project is an honest one we should never sent our documents or we face the risk of getting our identities stolen.

I understand your fear, that is why the space needs a regulatory body to make sure these scammers are held accountable. 

It will not work, because KYC needs clear images and identities, and I'm also very afraid of data theft when there are ico using KYC.

unforutunately so many ICOs want a clear photo and not any kind of cover, this is a very important concern and it needs to be solved maybe with encrypted messaging system or a private blokchain cloud system.

as long as I follow ICO and use KYC, I never find a problem. the developer of ICO will give us rules, so to save the security of personal data, we better follow the rules of ICO.

you must synchronize all your data, from your identity, and also proof of payment of electricity must use your name as well.
you don't try to provide data that is not provided by ICO.

I feel like KYC goes completely against the concept of crypto

yes almost all ico now need KYC for self-verification. to prevent the theft of personal data due to ico scam trap. first learn about the project to see if it is a scam or not. for sending pictures you have to send them completely for passport or id card if halfway I think you will not succeed to verify your KYC

i do hundreds of KYC for one year. i don't scared anymore, too late for me :) you came same pscyhology soon...

The best method against KYC is not to participate in those ICO generosity projects where such verification can be conducted. Such a check against the participants in the ICO signature campaign is illegal. Some ICO teams directly say that they will not conduct KYC with respect to members of the generosity campaign, because we are not investors. For some, this is clear, for some reason, no? None of the states and their governments explicitly require that the KYC be verified against the members of the ICO generosity campaign. These are local excesses and they are illegal. Instead of obediently sending potential confidential data to potential fraudsters, it is better to ask them on what legal basis they require it and let them quote the documents written in these documents and you will see that this is all foreseen.

Honestly I'd never even put myself in a situation like that in the first place. An ICO is going to request KYC details? I bet a large majority of those don't even get off the ground and onto an exchange, let alone require the validation of ID's and other documents that they'll then sell or steal for other purposes. Bad situation, wouldn't do it.

Truly, it's really worrying for most people whom really cherishs their privac, but I am now seeing it in another perspectives, its either you give out your data or you simply don't participate in the ICO. But in some other way, you don't blame the developers in for what they are demanding for. KYC verification is being used to figure out client whom are participating from countries they have restricted. All this are been done in other not to land them into trouble.

I don't know why they have to ask bounty participants to go through KYC, what is the purpose since these bounty participants are into marketing, we should boycott and do not participate in this kind of bounty or ICO so they will stop asking for KYC.

Hi guys!
Tell me, what do you think, is it worth going through the KYC?

As far as I know, some ico companies allow you to gloss over the passport number.
Such a watermark on the whole photo has not yet been tried, the idea is good enough to protect the official information!

I do a KYC also on the first ICO I joined. At first it doesn't come to my mind about stealing my information but now while reading your concern there is so many what it's on me. What is the steal my info, what if they scammed me?

Thee method that you suggest is too simple and anyone even me can delete watermark with Photoshop. Just hoping that projects protect our personal information.

I guess I only have passed my documents to trusted ones. What if we add dates on what day we have taken up the picture? Maybe it will just be edited if there will be someone to stole it

KYC is to help customers identify relevant information such as the date of birth of the card or the identity card of the place of origin to help the relevant legal procedures confirm the customer.

your thoughts about KYC and personal information issue is very important. This is the reason you should know all about the ICO and people behind the ICOs. If you see anything that does not add up, just forget that one.

It's a good idea to have Watermark put our documents forward to the KYCs. Because it can not be easily stolen by other people because it has Water Mark. But I'm worried about the high tech of our time and I'm sure it's easy to turn off watermarks especially for proffessionals.

We should only submit documents being asked on the application. You should know that joining ICO and providing KYC have some risks. If you are hesitant to submit your KYC, check first the background of the team of the project you are joining or ask in communities like telegram.

This is one of the risk one must take in this space. Its either you go all i or you back out totally.