for US Citizens: if you use VPN to buy into ICO, can the Government penalize?

[ciceronyc]

So I live in the USA, New York State.

If I use a VPN to buy into an ICO, will the US Gov't or even New York state government punish me somehow?

[Lovetrading]

Why would they penalize you? Who said we are not suppose to participate in ICO. I'm buying daily without a vpn and I live in USA

[tyuner4]

IMO, I don’t think the USA government will be able to track since you are using a VPS.  However please do be careful and DO NOT use the VPS to key in private key and sensitive data.

[Viecoin]

So I live in the USA, New York State.

If I use a VPN to buy into an ICO, will the US Gov't or even New York state government punish me somehow?

Just don't send the btc from Coinbase and you may not have to use a VPN. The IRS is trying to get details from Coinbase on American bitcoin spending habits.

[JohnDoe3490]

So I live in the USA, New York State.

If I use a VPN to buy into an ICO, will the US Gov't or even New York state government punish me somehow?

Just don't send the btc from Coinbase and you may not have to use a VPN. The IRS is trying to get details from Coinbase on American bitcoin spending habits.

Don't ever send from an exchange to a ICO.

[r0bb0]

So I live in the USA, New York State.

If I use a VPN to buy into an ICO, will the US Gov't or even New York state government punish me somehow?

Just don't send the btc from Coinbase and you may not have to use a VPN. The IRS is trying to get details from Coinbase on American bitcoin spending habits.

Never send from exchange to ICO as a rule.

[omnik]

So I live in the USA, New York State.

If I use a VPN to buy into an ICO, will the US Gov't or even New York state government punish me somehow?

But that wiill be difficult, There is a lot of people from US already cheated the system to participate in ico, that was why some ico already applied the KYC approval to participate in the ico.
It seems you will be fine and will not get any punishment for that. But you will not do it again for sure.

[adsadsx]

IMO, I don’t think the USA government will be able to track since you are using a VPS.  However please do be careful and DO NOT use the VPS to key in private key and sensitive data.

VPS would leave the information?

[13abyknight]

It's always risky to participate in ICOs when you're from the United States as most of the recent ICOs have a term listed which states that you are not from the United States. Yes you will be anonymous using a VPN to send funds during the ICO but all your trades and token usages should be through the VPN itself or else you're putting yourself at risk.

[TastyChillySauce00]

Just follow the government's rules and you'll be safe mate. There's no point of risking your life into this kind of thing if the penalty is really critical. I'm my self will keep obeying the rules given by the local government instead of breaking and gets punished. If you think Furthermore, life is unfair but well, that's life.

[FelixTheHat]

Maybe I am missing something, but everyone here seems to have this backwards. The US government isn't going to come after US citizens who buy coins in an ICO. Why would they? I don't even think there is a law against buying coins.

The law pertains to selling the coins to US citizens, not buying them. If an ICO sells to US citizens, the US government, in all its oppressive fury, can say that the ICO, by selling to US citizens, must comply with US law. Then, they can come down on the ICO founders, destroy them, and take all their money. In the name of justice, of course. It's the American way.

So, naturally, ICOs may not want to do business with US citizens, as they don't want to be subject to draconian US laws. That's why they won't sell to you. They would like your money, but it's just safer to avoid Americans altogether. European banks have been cutting loose their US customers for years now, for similar reasons, making life for US expats nearly impossible.

By lying about who you are, you are exposing an innocent start-up company to the risk of US law destroying them. I suppose that, if they found out, you might be guilty of some kind of breach of contract. It would depend on the laws of the country they are based in, and that would be civil matter anyway - not a criminal matter.

The US government, in fact, might be thrilled by you buying into such an ICO. It gives them an excuse to go after the start-up, squash them and take their money.

[HardFireMiner]

No, they can't penalize you, once you use a VPN you become invisible and nobody can see what you did, not even your ISP, SEC, FBI, CIA.

*Sarcasm off*

[bassong]

IMO, I don’t think the USA government will be able to track since you are using a VPS.  However please do be careful and DO NOT use the VPS to key in private key and sensitive data.

They can track you if they want to, regardless of using a VPS or not. Id advice not to buy if its against the law, you might get into trouble.

[dieselmeister]

  US block ICO. Hear China block ICO. I think this is happen only in Asia. 

[ciceronyc]

https://www.forbes.com/sites/ktorpey/2017/08/31/former-sec-attorney-explains-which-ethereum-icos-will-be-targeted-with-regulatory-action/#6f19e4c9eaf7

Still looking for clarity on this. 

Maybe I am missing something, but everyone here seems to have this backwards. The US government isn't going to come after US citizens who buy coins in an ICO. Why would they? I don't even think there is a law against buying coins.

If a person is not an accredited investor at the time they invest in the ICO, then can the SEC punish the person?

The law pertains to selling the coins to US citizens, not buying them. If an ICO sells to US citizens, the US government, in all its oppressive fury, can say that the ICO, by selling to US citizens, must comply with US law. Then, they can come down on the ICO founders, destroy them, and take all their money. In the name of justice, of course. It's the American way.

Yep, whistleblower bounty, as referenced in the Forbes article above. 

So, naturally, ICOs may not want to do business with US citizens, as they don't want to be subject to draconian US laws. That's why they won't sell to you. They would like your money, but it's just safer to avoid Americans altogether. European banks have been cutting loose their US customers for years now, for similar reasons, making life for US expats nearly impossible.

So can a non-accredited investor who is a US citizen get Estonian E-residency and from that account, invest in ICO's?  https://e-resident.gov.ee/

By lying about who you are, you are exposing an innocent start-up company to the risk of US law destroying them. I suppose that, if they found out, you might be guilty of some kind of breach of contract. It would depend on the laws of the country they are based in, and that would be civil matter anyway - not a criminal matter.

The US government, in fact, might be thrilled by you buying into such an ICO. It gives them an excuse to go after the start-up, squash them and take their money.

Def don't want to lie.  This is why I'm doing my due diligence now. 

[dbc23]

Not all ICOs are securities (although most probably are based on SEC's broad statement), even then participation as a citizen is less a concern for the individual as much as it could be for the development team (soliciting illegal securities is a no-no).

With how the blockchain works it would be INSANELY laborious for the IRS/NSA/ETC... to investigate or even identify an individual citizen who holds illegal ICO securities tokens, and I highly doubt they'd give enough of a crap to try to do it even if it was relatively easy unless that individual was a whale (6 digit and up transactions/holdings).

The real takeaway I got from the recent announcements is US citizens shouldn't (or are at least discouraged strongly) from participating in ICOs, especially those of a fund/dividend model design, but the real warning read to me more that they say that because the citizen investore would have little if any recourse to recover their funds or even claim securities fraud at this time.

I'm sure there's work being done at very high levels to understand what this all means and how they WILL eventually regulate it, but right now I think it's just very much a buyer beware situation.

[evski]

icos are just protecting themselves from restrictive US regulations, shouldnt effect buyers at all

[chutchmcgillicutty]

Governments are fucked anyway. I say you do whatever you want and enjoy the ride. If someone tries to shake you down deal with it then

[Erowind]

I don't think it's illegal for citizens, more like it's illegal for icos to sell to US citizens who not accredited investors.

[titulng]

You can't hide your ID, because the team will ask your KYC, and they will prevent you buying if they know you are  from US.