Bitcoin Forum

I have seen quite a few topics arise over the last few days regarding KYC.

Do not give your KYC information to anyone over the internet.  Period.  Think about this for a second.  Your sending your personal documents (which contain everything needed to assume your identity) over the internet. The ways your information can be grabbed once you have used the send button are numerous.   Once the criminal has gotten your personal data they can make illegal transaction under your name, leave your documents by the scene of a crime and even set you up to take the fall for a terrorist attack (by leaving your information).  There are numerous articles on this forum speaking about stolen identities from the KYC procedure. 

Any project and project team with any value at all will recognize that its not appropriate to ask individuals to take these security risks to gain access to their ICO or bounty/airdrop program.  The projects should realize that crypto is about decentralization any privacy.  If a project is asking you to break these rules look elsewhere. 

There are not many things in this world more important than your personal documents and privacy.  Do not make a foolish mistake and send your documents in.  If you do your running a huge risk and more often than not the project you sent the information in to will be a scam or failure.  Then what?

Finally, once the governments of the world can connect you with your blockchain address you are now a complete tax slave as they will be able to see every transaction you make.  Even the .005 Bitcoin you slide to the homeless guy.  It's now a traceable and taxable event. 

Stay safe everyone. 

Everyone need to be hold all information about his/her KYC. Because it’s contain their many personal identity and if it reach to bad people they should use this badly.

that is true, i don't really know most of the project and exchanges are requesting for our personal details, just as you said the system is a decentralized system while people asking for our details. well the truth of the matter is that i can't release any of my document to anyone any exchange because they are going beyond the system authorities so we have to careful.

Right, it's so important to be careful who you are submitting a KYC to.  Some illegitimate projects can be selling your personal information and scanned documentation to who knows where.

KYC has always been a sensitive  issue for cryptocurrency enthusiast, the bottomline is cryptocurrency community are not in favour of KYC and whoever think KYC add anything to cryptocurrency project is actually a learner! I totally agree with point raised by the Op!

Much as I see reason with your line of thought, I also see it as extreme thinking. KYC is important. It is not only in the crypto world. And come to think of it, are we really saying that the decentralized nature of blockchain is sacrosanct that all identity should be hidden?


Most KYC requests are related to exchanges and those who want to buy tokens, not bounty hunters. Does it mean you will not signup to an exchange, note that there is no single exchange that lists all tokens?

I hope no one do this type of foolish mistake by share their KYC information with other whose are unreliable . That’s too much harmful for anyone because it’s like share their personal identity and document.

I agree with you that it is very foolish to tell your personal data without knowing who it is. But still some good and promising projects are asked to pass KYC. And I have to do this procedure, because I can lose a lot of money, because some projects pay very generously.

I totally agree with you. It would be a great mistake for anyone if they share their kyc related information without knowing the authenticity of that site. Doing such things actually victimize them of scams and fakes.

Great post flowers.  I know a bunch of the users on this forum will ignore you and fill out the KYC for coins.  They will all pay the price eventually.  The best thing is to profit from this new technology so you can hopefully avoid the tax dragnet in the future.  The guys doing KYC will have many issues with their identity being stolen in the future as their documents are already online. 

If anyone share their KYC information  with anyone and any websites who are unreliable and not trusted they should sell your identity on dark or deep web.

I am in total agreement that KYC can be dangerous especially these days that information can be traded for a good value and can be done fast anytime on a global basis. Information can be powerful and in the hands of a deranged mind these information can be used for anything that can be illegal and harmful especially to us. This is not just freaking out or advanced thinking negatively because definitely we are not dealing here with angels...heck even angels turned to demons many ages ago so we have to be careful. Now, in balancing the need to know a project's customers and promoters i think there must be a way or a platform where these concerns can be balanced well for us and for the project we intend to be a part of.

Yes, I agree with you, the security of personal information is a crypto feature that has a decentralized system, and if kyc must be needed, then crypto is no longer anonymous.

Many ICO has KYC because of the rules of other country that their people prohibits to buy token on ICO. But its wrong to get info from participant since their company doesnt registered on SEC.

yeah, i agree with you. but now day even airdrops need your identical information, why do they need it for?
I understand the reason behind ICO need your identical information, but why even airdrop too?

It’s a confusing matter. Though KYC public service is important to give service to clients, but at the same time to keep your identity safe is also very important. There are lots of people are waiting online to misuse your information and identity. 

I agree with your point of view. If the scammers get your personal information by us to do bad things, that is indeed a bad thing

That's why I rarely join airdrop what require KYC. I know they do that because there are many cheaters. But I think we can not sell our information for $$.

I agree with you, I think it is not necessary to send your personal data to persons without knowing their true motive. As tempting as it may be, it may come out more expensive to you later.

At first thank you for your valuable suggestions and advices. It is right that some frauds and hackers are working to get information about innocent publics. they'd be aware of them. They should know how to avoid scams and fraud parties.

Well said mate.... I strongly disagree with the idea of Kyc because it's disadvantages outweigh it's advantages, personal informations should remain confidential and can only be released to authorized agency not just someone sitting at the other side of the computer I'd rather jump project that requires Kyc other than releasing my sensitive informations

KYC is very dangerous when we send your personal information to strangers. The crypto community has always been worried about KYC, because we can easily lose personal information. I think I need to follow these tips.

What you say is very true and very important. Personal information should be kept confidential. Do not send kyc for unsafe projects or scam projects.

I didn’t like this disturbing KYC procedure from the beginning. It makes us vulnerable and bound to the government officials. It’s the worst way to share information to someone over internet

It’s truly a shame. I really find the fact that some ICOs are requiring KYC information very bad. Why will I give my personal details to anyone make myself insecure? It’s annoying

 I believe this KYC procedure is just trap of government officials to reach us and take their shares by calling it tax or staff like that. I strongly stand against this process.

Many projects and ICOs might require personal information in the form of KYC. In my opinion, it is not worth giving this information to the unknown parties. Because no one can tell where they will use this info.

Personal information are meant to remain secret for one’s safety reason. If anyone tend to give them away as KYC then I think it will be a wrong move. It will increase the chance of identity theft and cause trouble.

Now a lot of ICO require KYC for their customers. Justified their actions on the part of legality or not to determine problematically. By refusing to pass it, you can lose money earned in promising projects.

I am very categorical about the projects that make KYC go for bounty hunters, I'm not against investors, but this is also not normal in terms of security for investors, it's not normal. But on the whole, I agree to give documents only to state structures

KYC is for the customer of crypto world . In new announcement in KYC it is important to be careful when we are giving information. It will be great if we avoid to give useful information via internet because may be it have risk we can be suffer by this.

I hate participating in ico projects and then they bring up kyc as part of the process. I  think more should be done to secure the identity of people who have to undergo kyc. Even if the project does not scam, data breaches can occur on the site which can leave documents of innocent investors at the hands of perpetual cyber criminals

For your safety issues be aware and secure yourself. We should think more about the security purpose. Stop giving your KYC information in insecured project or anywhere and be safe.

well some are considering it as a progress but for me it is better to not provide your personal information publicly it could cause problems , so please be over sure before doing this kinds of work,  your personal data is your main security

the actual existence of the KYC is great as a security system. Even projects with KYC often will be more reliable if for me. Because this is safer and also more worth it for us to follow.

Secure yourself for your safety. We need to learn more about security and fraud project as well. Analysing is important before giving your KYC information.

We read that even eleven-year-old boys successfully create their ICO projects. And we can pass on to these children  identification data and copies of our passports when checking KYC. This is despite the fact that the participants of the ICO generosity campaign should not undergo such a check at all because they are not investors in such projects.
In general, I believe that the right of claim in others to pass the KYC test should only be in government bodies, because only they can ensure the safety of our confidential data.

There is nothing more important than your personal documents and privacy or KYC information. Do not make a mistake and do not read your documents. If you think there will be a risk than discuss about it in your team.

Since crypto is decentralized so there is no need to present personal information here. The third party will try to control its personal information, which is against the policy. We should refrain from providing this information.

KYC is now starting to become as much a requirement for the acceptance of gifts. This of course inevitably for who want to get the results should provide their personal data. However, it is very risky because it does not know for what and who brought the data. better look for safe by avoiding the use of things like this.

I too kinda skeptical about giving away my personal data especially when it's can be generally used for verifying like its giving people the privelege to impersonate us but if the company is about to be trusted and they are compliant to the country's regulation
thats somehow a different case, but, it's kinda hard to figure out which is really using our data for the sake of kyc or aml verifying only or being used for other purpose.
maybe a service that provide protection to any people who are giivng away their personal data for kyc need to be deployed.

You are right, the crypto decentralization here represents the fact that it is against the principle. Crypto can never be controlled by anyone. Crypto is made with advanced blockchain technology. Which is very secure and potential.

KYC is verifying our physical document for the validity. While giving our document we need to be careful, so there will be helpful for us.

Nobody can guarantee that documents send for KYC is real. So it is useless for tax purposes. Moreover you can use BTC mixer to avoid track of your transactions. I think that governments still not very interesting to control cryptocurrency, they able to gain profits by more simple ways.

I hate when the bounties are saying about kyc procedure mandatory in the few last days before the Bounty ends, this is very unpolite to your customers and bounty participants, do not do that please.

Basically as far I know that is it is advised people that any source of information should not be provided to KYC until it is getting clearance so avoid such types of things.

About KYC system at some program..we will get problem or not with our data when we send to some developer project.any risk about our data if they use it for something? Often i have afraid when i must send KYC data on some program

kyc process as of today are becoming more dangerous than it was before, Its really hard to trust even if it is required in a certain project to receive your bounty reward, but you must think twice before submitting.

Yes it is better to avoid this because it is advised to the people that do not give any personal information to KYC so we should avoid this thing.

Based on this market there are many newses are coming also it is true that you should not give any personal information to KYC it may cause of risk so I think avoid giving such types of information’s is better.

Yes, it is advised to the people that no matter what, under any circumstances, they are not supposed to give out any sort of personal information to KYC. There could be malicious reasons behind it. Until it gets cleared up, it is better to avoid it.

Doesn't matter what the circumstance is, it is always said that not to give out any sort of personal information to KYC. If needed, avoid it.

in any case, as if my mother were indignant and press to provide their passport data, activities with a crypto currency will force us to do It regardless of our desires.

The same people who have no problem giving KYC to any ICO or suspicious project, are the same ones who use Facebook with a public profile and give all their information out there, and for those people privacy is irrelevant so don't lose your breath, anyone who values their privacy or their identity doesn't even use the same username in different forums, since it's very easy to link someone's identity by details in the messages, you have to be very careful with the information we release on the internet, guys.

They need it because regulations require it . Ofcourse it depends from Country , but nowadays in ICO's alot of them require KYC to participate . Ofcourse you can wait after ICO ends and buy tokens on decentralized exchange , if you dont wanna risk your identity stolen . Most ICO's usually drop in price twice/triple after exchange launch lol . So if somebody wanna participate in ICO , better don't and wait for exchange

Yes, it becomes more dangerous as of today where scam projects becomes more and more rampant on the entire market but as a participant or even as an investor you do know on what decisions you would possibly made on these kind of situations. If you do choose up to risk out your info because you trust the project then you should know the potential risk of the informations you had given.

indeed, as an investor, you probably know the risk of submitting your personal information, that's why we should investigate more about the project before we spend our time for that, and also about the kyc, it is an important papers of an individual, that's why you should take care of that on how you take care of your investment.

KYC is here to stay, almost all reliable exchanges require it; it is a requirement in most ICOs and so it is sadly unavoidable.
We should however be careful about the nature of documents we give out and also who is asking for it.
Any airdrop that request for KYC is a big no for me.

Certainly transfer of screens of private papers to the third parties is very risky. Transfer of any confidential information on the Internet rather dangerous occupation. Any hacker can steal your data and use them in the bad purposes. But on the other hand, now many bounty company enter procedure KYC with a formulation "you want to receive your reward, then pass ". And perhaps soon the majority of a baunta of the companies will enter this procedure.
However what then to do if not to pass кик if there is no other way to receive the earned tokens.

Exactly what I was thinking. Almost all the ICOs nowadays asks for KYC informations while the bounty hunters are trying to join their campaigns and airdrops. Though we give out these sensitive information falling for the greed of earning few tokens but we need to realize that the cost of someone misusing these information can be more dangerous in the long run.

The number of projects requiring a procedure KYC is constantly growing. I think that soon they will become the majority. what to do then?

I feel that, requirements like KYC and other personal details should be discouraged among the crypto market. Though we are only focusing on making profit but we are forgetting to look at the wrong side of providing such confidential information in the wrong hands. Hopefully, the community will realize this soon.

Yes, I also have come across with this type of news and that's really very scary. What I can only recommend to all is that not to go for those ICO which require KYC. Who knows that ICO might be a scam just to collect the information.

This is one kind of threat for the people who have already shared their KYC information. Currently, it will be wiser if anybody does not go for those ICO which ask for KYC. Hope this thing will come to in a solution soon.

That's True. I have also gone through with this type of news. We all should be aware of this thing and we should also try to ignore those ICO which is looking for KYC. These days scammers are really active and we all need to make sure our own safety.

Yeah providing KYC seems totally useless to me. Why should we give our personal information to unknown sources. We should be very careful about providing these things to any projects.

KYC is a very sensitive information. It should not be given on internet without any mandatory need. If any projects ask for KYC information, i think we should leave those projects.

Who can give a reference to specific laws that the ICO should carry out the KYC procedure? Now it looks like the ICO projects have come up with this, but refer it to the law requirements.

I am fully agree with you. Giving KYC to the project can bring some dangerous consequences. It can bring big problems for the information provider. So we should take cautions about these things.

KYC is a worst way of giving information. This doesn’t seem to me trustworthy ever. They can do anything with our secret info. It really makes us bound to the govt.

KYC is just a stupid thing. It’s really very annoying. Why anyone give his/her secret information to other ? This thing should be avoided. It’s completely insecure.

Thanks for this awareness article. It would be a so helpful for all the crypto users out there. I too think it is very much essential stay cautious when we are about to submit the sensitive information over internet.

I think you are so right, KYC should not be needed for any ICO, bounty and airdrop, because we actually don't know who we sending these information to, it could get hacked and our identity and personal information will be compromised, To stay safe, never submit your real identity to them.

Kyc issue is a pain in the ass, most ICO won't specify if they'll be adopting Kyc from the get go, suddenly at the middle of the ICO they'll require you to pass Kyc before you get your tokens and bounty reward which is not right, its better to know from the beginning in order to decide either to participate or not....

I won't advice anyone to exchange identity document on the internet because hackers could get hold of it and use it for bad thing

I am a citizen who respect and obey the laws of my country. But even me, I am just mad when I perform all the task which is mandatory in every particular bounty, and then right in the end they will announce a kyc procedure needed.

Got to know a lot from this detailed post. Exactly own privacy and security of identical or any other related info should be the first concern. It is not wise to get tempted by unrealistic offers and send in all sensitive data online.

Never think towards that direction, wow! so government can use kyc collected by ico team to trace someone's identity to be able to get tax from asset owns by someone. Nice warning mate will stop sending my details in the sake of ico participation.

All you’ve said is true. It is such an eye opener. Thanks for the reminder dude. I indeed had given my documents to some sites that asked me for KYC purposes and i regret in doing it now. May it never happen again to me and to anyone else here.

Well, he did not directly say like that but he said that by submitting our informations in the internet, there are many ways theives can get these informations and use it against us or for some sly purposes. So we better be careful in giving our information specially in the internet wherein the possibility of being stolen is big.

KYC is a new way for developers to sustain the ICO game and need to protect themselves for the coming regulations, which is one of the thing that accelerated the bear market. I think people need to be very careful to people you release your information to, because abuse of the process has been reported by some team

I don't really like that KYC thing even tho it helps us to get rid of cheaters in campaign but the risk of because of our personal information is just a no no for me

Good article. I fully agree with the author of this article and adhere to the same views on the KYC procedure.
Cryptocurrencies are progress in the economy, but progress is impossible if it is carried out according to the old banking scheme of control over finances.

This is just the raw fact OP. You have spilled out the right word. Submitting your details, most especially an official document containing your data, is not a good idea. We all need to be very careful, else, we might blame ourselves for our actions and inactions  and our mistakes.