How to combat the surge in scam ICOs

[cryptodevil]

there are really interesting and successful projects. Or do not you think so?

Successful? By what metric are you claiming success?

[1715021934]

1715021934

[1715021934]

1715021934

[1715021934]

1715021934

[HarryPorter]

there is "great ICO story" on here: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2191699.0 , you can join and make post, it will help keep topic on first page of altcoins anno.

some tweets as well: https://twitter.com/farelka9/status/908056850091986946  - important links in comments.

[ndnh]

This is a good idea. A price for every new altcoin announcement thread. 

there are really interesting and successful projects. Or do not you think so?

Successful? By what metric are you claiming success?

There are indeed some interesting projects.

Here's a metric.


Bitcoin will be less exciting without competition. They aren't really competition, they all do different things.

[HarryPorter]

"Re: How to combat the surge in scam ICOs"?:

there is the way: http://www.newsbtc.com/2017/09/26/sec-opens-cyber-unit-govern-ico-projects-tackle-cybercrime/

"...Thanks to the launch of their new cyber unit, the SEC will police ICOs and other “illicit” blockchain-based activity"

I never thought that I would be grateful boys from SEC for something, I wish you fruitful work guys.

[Stunna]

Realistically I'd say the majority of ICO's right now are unfair or scams. There's so many I look at knowing that there is no way the people raising money could possibly give the investors any type of reasonable return for that investment. I don't see how a 1 bitcoin charge will do anything to prevent this, and it isn't really the job of a public forum to police this type of stuff, it never was done for any securities or ponzis on this forum.

Ultimately people need to be responsible for their own actions and do their own due diligence before investing. That being said a lot of this investment is just being driven by greed by people wanting to get in first to get a % token bonus, wait for most of these weak businesses to collapse. If I could bet money against 99% of the ICO's I would.

[HarryPorter]

"How..." bit more info:

1. "South Korean Government to Ban Domestic ICOs and Bitcoin Margin Trading"
link: https://themerkle.com/south-korean-government-to-ban-domestic-icos-and-bitcoin-margin-trading/
"The government completely prohibits ICO (Initial Coin Offering), which is a fund raising method"
link: http://news.joins.com/article/21983687

2. from China "Illegal elements often use the trading platform to obtain the so-called "virtual currency" to engage in illegal activities, there is a large legal risk, the recent large number of trading platform for support for currency issuance financing activities (ICO) has been stopped by regulators"
link: http://www.nifa.org.cn/nifa/2955704/2955770/2967733/index.html

3. from UK (FSA) "Consumer warning about the risks of Initial Coin Offerings (‘ICOs’)"
link: https://www.fca.org.uk/news/statements/initial-coin-offerings

4. from USA (SEC) "The SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy is warning investors about potential scams involving stock of companies claiming to be related to, or asserting they are engaging in, Initial Coin Offerings (or ICOs)"
link: https://www.sec.gov/oiea/investor-alerts-and-bulletins/ia_icorelatedclaims

5. from Canada (CSA) :We have received numerous inquiries from fintech businesses and their legal counsel relating to ICOs/ITOs. With the offerings
that we have reviewed to date, we have in many instances found that the coins/tokens in question constitute securities for the purposes of securities laws, including because they are investment contracts."
link: http://www.osc.gov.on.ca/documents/en/Securities-Category4/csa_20170824_cryptocurrency-offerings.pdf

6. from Singapore (CAD&MAS): "The Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) have observed the emergence of initial coin (or token) offerings (ICOs), and other investment schemes involving digital tokens, in Singapore.... A consumer is exposed to heightened risk of fraud when investing in schemes that operate online or outside Singapore."
link: http://www.mas.gov.sg/News-and-Publications/Media-Releases/2017/Consumer-Advisory-on-Investment-Schemes-Involving-Digital-Tokens.aspx

7. from Australia (ASIC): "ASIC is aware of the global interest in the use of ICOs by businesses to raise funds. A number of international regulators have issued guidance on the application of their securities and financial services laws on ICOs."
link: https://www.asic.gov.au/regulatory-resources/digital-transformation/initial-coin-offerings/#what

The continuation will probably happen... enjoy
Have nice day to all "ICO Ceo"

[jakezyrus]

There are an absurd number of ICOs being launched through this forum these days, far more than we can keep up with and expose. I don't see it getting any better all the while the scammers have a platform such as this, which allows them to use hacked accounts and bot-posting to set up multiple ICO threads for free.

Somebody came up with an excellent idea on the matter:

If I were Theymos, I would charge 1 BTC to post an ICO. Then I would use some of it to vet the principles. Farm out the leg work to reputable people on here to dig into it.

While it will not 100% eliminate the problem I bet it would reduce it by 95%.

A chance for all to make a bit of BTC and make for a safer investment climate.

Thoughts?

Personally I think simply introducing a fee to start an ICO thread would result in an immediate drop in the numbers we're currently seeing. If you've got a legit operation you sure as hell can afford a bitcoin or two in order to collect millions in ICO funding.

yes i agree on this idea. this will greatlty stop the ico from  scamming us , because these days there are many ico's on the bounty altcoin sections are popping like a mushroom and disapper instanlty like a ninja after they fininished to scam their investors and bonty hunters here who waste their preciuos time advertising their crap coin.

[veleten]

the best way is to both raise awareness and get a refundable collateral to be allowed to create an ICO topic here
lets say not 1 bitcoin,but 1000$ worth in coins,with 900$ refundable once ICO is complete,also have a standard mandatory warning for every ICO topic
but the most important thing is to educate people on what ICOs are and what  the risks and  rewards are for the participants
I can suggest a topic like the cloud mining 101 topic here: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=878387.1880 ,stickied
in a way,it was almost the same phenomenon,most of the cloud minings were scam with several legit exceptions

[Slow death]

there is a solution to reduce this problem

my sugestion:

create a group of DT members to inspect the

Announcements (Altcoins)

this group of DT members would have the difficult task of verifying whether there are real-life project team members and asking for the true contacts of ICO team members


having the true contact of the members of the ICO team is already possible to prevent them from stealing because we can arrest them

[vetal1212]

Most likely this issue will not go away and no you will not give assurances that the ICO will make all commitments and not svalit with your money! you need to carefully disassemble the project in which you want to invest, then the probability is much higher)