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

[taguig]

My take is yes it is because they are more likely to run away and you didn't know where are they after they run, it's like giving away your money to total strangers, but if it is not an ICO and an average mining coins with equal distribution and they already had a platform, then you can go investing on them

[sangalangdavid]

No, but you have to be careful because it is too very risky. Why invest time and money in a anynoymous ico? Invest it on well-known and potential ICOs.

[shursight]

Obviously that it is not a scam, but it would be a shady project in where i would not even put a single dollar into.

I have never seen an anonymous project carrying out a succesfull project, the only one that was capable of being a good one, lost more than 90% of it's value on the last few months (ethorse)

It used to be a good project, but it's lack of trust did not allow them to be listed on good exchanges, because the team was anonymous, and this goes against the exchanges policies.

[btcluisdiki]

Personally,  I believe that if an ICO is anonymous,  definitely it could be a scam ICO.  Transparency is the best way to convince people that an ICO is a legitimate one and everthing should be in place like the whitepaper,  team members, the purpose of the project and spreadsheet should be visible for the bounty hunters.

[madzarux]

I don’t think that necessarily makes it a scam but it means your DYOR just take even more important role in your decision making.  Unlike everyday business, IcO’s are asking people to donate to a business model whereby investors have little or no legal cover if something goes wrong.  An ICO team being anonymous make this a tricky process but even teams not annynouns have walked away with ICO contributions in the past without grace.  
IMO ICO’s need regulation, it is too easy to tonput together a project now in the ICO format.

[supine]

I think so, I think it is risky to invest in an ICO who's team is anonymous. The reason why some ICO succeed is because some members of their team are credible developers or a reputable person in crypto. However, I am not saying that an ICO with an anonymous team is a scam at all. Just do your homework before investing.

[Twinkledoe]

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.

With the current setting in the crypto world, being anonymous almost equate to being a scam or crap. There are only few anonymous project that are really legit but still they are generating money from selling their coins. IMO, it's better to trust a project with faces, they have less chance of scamming people. But you need to be sure that those faces are not fake. There are several projects that use fake profiles, fake photos and the likes. You need to research them at the very least.

[blackhawkeye1912]

Obviously that it is not a scam, but it would be a shady project in where i would not even put a single dollar into.

I have never seen an anonymous project carrying out a succesfull project, the only one that was capable of being a good one, lost more than 90% of it's value on the last few months (ethorse)

It used to be a good project, but it's lack of trust did not allow them to be listed on good exchanges, because the team was anonymous, and this goes against the exchanges policies.

Yeah you have a point here. It may not be about the project, but rather on the trust issues. In case, crowdfunding turns well, the problem now is the exchange.

However, nowadays there is a lot of scammers. Investors just want as much as possible assurance that the project is for real. One way to evaluate is the team members. Are they capable and qualified? Are they verified?

[East2011]

There is a high possibility that anonymous ICO release a scam project. What is their reason why they are hiding their identity. Specially nowadays there are so many scam ICO's.

[gilangIDR]

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.

It's true that not everything will end in scam. But as you say that now it is indeed quite risky to invest in an ICO project that has an anonymouse team. This is because the ICO project currently has a very high level of risk. Many events occur when teams bring all investor money. This is a thing that must be avoided and we should invest in a project that does have a trusted team. Do this and we can reduce the risk of experiencing a much greater loss.

[Yamifoud]

It absolutely yes,  and some ICOs with have a complete team and advisors will also have instances that it will turn into scam. 
We cant even be sure around here that is why crypto investment is too risky than of real stocks investment.

[benalexis12]

Yes, it is.. But if the coin don't allow investor to invest and there coin is useful in a sense of store of value and using it on transactions and a propf of works this is considered sd legit Coin. I recommend Ravencoin to all of you guys.

[SolomonSollarsNSense]

At this time scam in ICOs have increased too much and almost 95% of the ICOs are either scamming or failing to achieve their target and end up scamming by taking all the amounts they have collected and done the scam. So my advice for everyone is just that please do proper research before investing in any ICO. Either it is done by checking their Teams, Whitepaper, Concept or other details but when invest when you are sure that it is a good project to invest in.

[mightwalker]

It's not really, but the most important thing when review an ICO is checking the team. The team needs to be revealed to prove legit of the project.

[zhengqi]

Team anonymity is not an indication that the project is fraudulent. You have rightly cited the example of Satoshi. He remained anonymous, but this did not prevent him from achieving what he had achieved. After all, the main thing is to promote your idea, to implement it. It does not matter whether it will be done anonymously or not.

[JPSelzer]

There are several criteria to identify scammers. Anonymity to team can also be considered, but only in conjunction with other criteria. Anonymity itself is not a confirmation of fraud. You have correctly indicated that the team may have different reasons not to show their names.

[allthebitandbobs]

It depends on the project. I running an ICO and trying to be anonymous but not for any callous reasons .  1. I am generally a private anti-social individual if the projects becomes huge I don't what everybody and anybody wanting a piece of me.For safety reasons if my identity was known i could easy be kidnaped blackmailed killed you just never know.For additional legal protection etc . Here is my ICO my the way  https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5025093.0    .

Again I would take it on a case to case basis. Any ICO these days you have to really research and be sure about a project before you put a penny into it.Any doubt then avoid

[kier010]

with many scam ICOs today having an anonymous team is not good and have a higher chance of being a scam. even a scam ICOs make fake identity to fool people just to make it real and many would not believe  for this anonymous ICO team.

[surgexvb]

Often it happens, you need to pay attention to the experience and previous projects of the team members, how successful these projects were and how competent the team is in this area, some information should definitely be and preferably confirmed.

[SaoAccel]

Well for me it indicates a red flag because ICO teams needs to be transparent as possible because they are the most important factors that will make the company successful after the funding from the ICO.