If an ICO team is anonymous, is it a scam?

[Ladysmith]

When deciphering between legit and scam ICO's, one of the main things everyone says is "you have a look at the team and see if they're transparent."

The thing is, the whole ideology behind decentralization is that it gives the public control over the economy's trajectory, rather than centralized and specific entities.

I see the Virternity Project, for example (https://virternity.com/), which prefers anonymity, but I'm not sure it means it's a scam ICO.

from their FAQ:

"Why aren't you revealing who is in your team?"

"The members of our team are enthusiastic about the idea of creating the Virternity space for the whole world. We want to avoid “buy-outs” of our specialists and co-workers, and also avoid pressure on them.

Also, given the limited financing at the initial stage, we are using anonymity as a shield for our technological secrets—the specifics of our current and future developments.

Many members of our team have serious jobs in major firms and do not want to advertise their participation in a non-commercial project, in order to avoid conflicts of interest.

In the future, once these factors are less of an issue, we plan to publicly name the founders and key personnel."


Satoshi remains anonymous..

Thoughts?

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[seo-maestro]

I can recommend to skip ICO with the anonymous team because you can loose your invested money. Don't risk your money if you're not sure about the project. Satoshi didn't raise money!

[makishart]

Satoshi has been creating a fully working product and blockchain platform called bitcoin and this team created nothing to be showed. It's too risky to believe in a new team without a fully working product.
If this team create an ico and it can't be trusted and believe me that involved a very high risk.

[dobolspeed2]

I advise you to look for projects whose teams are displayed, to be able to find team information from the projects you are currently participating in.

[JimmyNg90]

...

I have never appreciated a project with a hidden team. This is an untransparency, and it becomes more risky in this crypto world. So, my advice is "stay away from these projects" unless you want your asset become "anonymous" too.

[virendarnagpal]

My experience say many of the ICOs are just scam.  And if the team is anonymous the chances become near to scam.  The coin which is offered for one dollar in ICO afterwards available in the market $ 0.1.  
Many ICOs will not pay bounty to the hunters despite the fact that they worked very sincerely.  Small percentage are really nice but their market value also mostly falls after ICO completion.

[Caladonian]

We can't call them scam until  they runaway with your investment, there's a big risk investing with project without knowing the team behind, you should think a lot before you will try making investment, even working products has been offered and future success might be reached you still need to do a
hard research and good analysis before making any decisions.

[fraufreiheit]

Satoshi has been creating a fully working product and blockchain platform called bitcoin and this team created nothing to be showed. It's too risky to believe in a new team without a fully working product.
If this team create an ico and it can't be trusted and believe me that involved a very high risk.

Yep, and Satoshi never asked for somebody's money as an investment to his project, he was able to fund it himself. But when someone wants me to give him my money, I think I deserve to know who he is and what he's already done for the industry.
But even if the team isn't anonymous, check their names and photos attentively, identity theft is very popular way to stay unknown while scamming people, so it's even more tricky.

[bitc0000]

Information about the ICO team is the most important, and if they hide it, then ICO is definitely a scam and should not invest in it. Even now, ICOs with strong teams but scam, there is no reason to invest in ICOs with hidden information

[Rijaalul Asyqoo]

I will not ban and tell you to take part in ico. but it would be better if you care more about the decision you will make. But if I am you, I choose not to participate in Iico because I am more careful and minimize the losses that I will bear.
Your decision is in your hands.

[supermine]

Not really because as you said we never know who is satoshi nakamoto so it doesn't meant to be scam but nowadays I won't suggest anyone to do this because scammers can make this as good opportunity to make money out of thin air.

[XCANA]

Believe me, if any ICO team is anonymous then scam is not far from such ICO. The team behind any project which is visible to investors is more appreciating than the anonymous type will often end in scam. Cannot invest my money on a project with a hidden identity of it team members, we all know the importance of team behind any project. ICO success is determine by the team behind such project.

[none of us]

i would stay away from an ico without a public team. yes, satoshi was anonymous too, but he never ask in advance for money. that is a different.

[gwaposakon]

If ICO is not disclosing information about their team, you must be wary about the project. There must be a reason they are not disclosing themselves. But also there are some projects that withhold info of their team for security purpose. Look at bitcoin. Nobody really knows who mr. satoshi is. if his a person or a group. I remember investing also in bitcoinwhite which their members are all anonymous. But until know their platform still exists.

[tiggytomb]

I would be hesitant to invest in a project where the team was not willing or confident enough to associate themselves  with their project.  It gives an air of dodgyness.

[Lanatsa]

Not at all yet there are some certain projects which do have anonymous developers but did able to succeed as of todays but
on major thing we should always invest on a project which do have a transparent developer team because we can already presume that
they are really concern not to hide themselves and willing to do full force on developing the project on full transaparency.

[Galantin]

I met projects with anonymous developers. People just care about their safety. Fraudsters against can easily insert someone else's photo and attach the data. I don't think this is a problem. They also do not put the project at risk.

[fibrolit]

When deciphering between legit and scam ICO's, one of the main things everyone says is "you have a look at the team and see if they're transparent."

The thing is, the whole ideology behind decentralization is that it gives the public control over the economy's trajectory, rather than centralized and specific entities.

I see the Virternity Project, for example (https://virternity.com/), which prefers anonymity, but I'm not sure it means it's a scam ICO.

from their FAQ:

"Why aren't you revealing who is in your team?"

"The members of our team are enthusiastic about the idea of creating the Virternity space for the whole world. We want to avoid “buy-outs” of our specialists and co-workers, and also avoid pressure on them.

Also, given the limited financing at the initial stage, we are using anonymity as a shield for our technological secrets—the specifics of our current and future developments.

Many members of our team have serious jobs in major firms and do not want to advertise their participation in a non-commercial project, in order to avoid conflicts of interest.

In the future, once these factors are less of an issue, we plan to publicly name the founders and key personnel."


Satoshi remains anonymous..

Thoughts?

If the team does not reveal itself,then of course it is impossible to say with full confidence that this is a Scam. However,it looks like a huge number of crypto-currency fraudulent projects that worked on the Internet in 2014-2016. Of course, I would not invest in such an ICO.

[w33man]

I think it is best to stay away from an ICO that has an anonymous team. If you are really planning to create an altcoin and you want to gain your investors' trust, why make your team anonymous? It is risky, take note that even an ICO with a team profile can turn out to be a scam, what more if the team is anonymous.

[bit..what?]

I would not put money in an ico where the team does not show itself in public.
Something like that just does not give me any confidence.
But everyone has to decide for themselves what he does with his money.