PM me or post here I will review them.
How do you view Envion's ICO? See https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2348435.0;allLooks legit...
Topic: How to spot an ICO SCAM - page 2. (Read 9113 times)
Looks legit...
Hi guys, I want to share with you my simple methodology (beta) of spotting ICO scams.
The methodology
There are criteria with various risk points. Summarize all the points of the criteria that the ICO meets to get total score. Total score represents a risk grade on which you can lean to take a risk or not.
Scam points and criteria:
1 point: minor suspicions (for each)
3 points: anon devs; no code snippets, videos, or beta; rushing
5 points: unrealistic goals; fuzzy whitepaper; self-mod topic
10 points: bought account; no escrow
Risk and total score:
low (0-5)
medium (6-10)
high (11-15)
very high (16-20)
extremely high (21 and more)
Example
Let's imagine there's an ongoing ICO of Supercoinxxx in which you want to invest some money.
The topic is self-mod (5 points) with devs that have unrealistic goals (5 points) like creating a decentralized stock market in 2-3 month and a fuzzy whitepaper (5 points) with no technical details. Also you found two minor suspicions (2 points) based on your experience. Which gives 17 points in total. Based on that score you conclude that risk is very high and skipping this ICO.
Updated: added "no escrow" criteria.
The methodology
There are criteria with various risk points. Summarize all the points of the criteria that the ICO meets to get total score. Total score represents a risk grade on which you can lean to take a risk or not.
Scam points and criteria:
1 point: minor suspicions (for each)
3 points: anon devs; no code snippets, videos, or beta; rushing
5 points: unrealistic goals; fuzzy whitepaper; self-mod topic
10 points: bought account; no escrow
Risk and total score:
low (0-5)
medium (6-10)
high (11-15)
very high (16-20)
extremely high (21 and more)
Example
Let's imagine there's an ongoing ICO of Supercoinxxx in which you want to invest some money.
The topic is self-mod (5 points) with devs that have unrealistic goals (5 points) like creating a decentralized stock market in 2-3 month and a fuzzy whitepaper (5 points) with no technical details. Also you found two minor suspicions (2 points) based on your experience. Which gives 17 points in total. Based on that score you conclude that risk is very high and skipping this ICO.
Updated: added "no escrow" criteria.
Very good list, Also check out for those that have huge number of contributors but little amounts bordering on 0 amounts just to pump their ICOs.
As i am having quite active in finding good ICO, one of the best factors to determine ICO is good or bad is by the team dev. For example, we look at omisego, we have vitalik as advisor. And in fact, this factor determines how hype the ico is. A lot of people decide to join the ico is by the team members. And with hype, this will allow investor to make money out of it. So if you invest in OMG, you would have x24. Another example is knc which is x5.
my personal opinion is that 90% OF ICOS is just unsuccessful and failed with stupid ideas is not a scam. but there is 5% that is a scamers also there is a 5% which is a successful and you have to make a good research to find them , do not trust anyone just trust the idea if it makes sense only .
Look into the prior history of the team members. If they have not been around for a long time into social networking websites and have new accounts in websites like linkedin, it should be an instant red flag.
In my opinion, the most important are the project's prototype. It should work with some basic functions.
A MVP worth more than a fancy white paper.
A MVP worth more than a fancy white paper.
I hope this helps: ico.scam.network
These steps of spotting scams are static. I prefer interactive methods. I like to ask as many questions as I can directly devs/managers 
Be active on forum, take others opinion on board and do your research but ultimately I think alot of it comes down to gut feeling. It's also worth taking into account risk of investing in ICO vs investing once they hit the exchanges.
E.g. Monetha ICO price is now around 3/5 on the exchange so massive drop already.
Kyber on the other hand is now 5x on exchanges. So can swing both ways.
E.g. Monetha ICO price is now around 3/5 on the exchange so massive drop already.
Kyber on the other hand is now 5x on exchanges. So can swing both ways.
Check if the team is legit and if they habe linkedin pages
Hello, everyone.
I am just wondering if there is any industry known company that does audit of ICOs? Such a company could be beneficial for both ICO issuers and for the users who want to invest. I know that the very idea of decentralization is going against such a company, but still it will be interesting to know if such companies exist. If not - that is another idea for a startup.
I am just wondering if there is any industry known company that does audit of ICOs? Such a company could be beneficial for both ICO issuers and for the users who want to invest. I know that the very idea of decentralization is going against such a company, but still it will be interesting to know if such companies exist. If not - that is another idea for a startup.
These are good and simplified guide, but we must always remember that we must trust no one. We have always been warned, we must think twice and investigate first before we engage in any form of investments.
There are several issues with this way of assessing an ICO.
Firstly, the idea of 'self-mod topic' scoring on your list 5 points doesn't make any sense. As you are all aware, this forum is full of idiots, trolls and otherwise people with nothing sensible to say just clogging up the threads looking to increase their post count. So, some level of editorial control should not be a measure of anything. You should rather look at the nature of the posts getting deleted. If the mod deletes proper questions and critical posts that have some substance then you might draw your own conclusions. If the posts being deleted are just mindless drivel, then all the better for the thread.
Have a look at the GitHub and the code and see if it's just a basic clone or something a bit more planned and thought out.
Also, there are clear issues with posting your true identity online. It could be for tax reasons and for privacy so this is not a measure of an dodgy ICO. Do you research in what is being offered, it makes no difference if the dev is called Yolobeast of John Smith.
Firstly, the idea of 'self-mod topic' scoring on your list 5 points doesn't make any sense. As you are all aware, this forum is full of idiots, trolls and otherwise people with nothing sensible to say just clogging up the threads looking to increase their post count. So, some level of editorial control should not be a measure of anything. You should rather look at the nature of the posts getting deleted. If the mod deletes proper questions and critical posts that have some substance then you might draw your own conclusions. If the posts being deleted are just mindless drivel, then all the better for the thread.
Have a look at the GitHub and the code and see if it's just a basic clone or something a bit more planned and thought out.
Also, there are clear issues with posting your true identity online. It could be for tax reasons and for privacy so this is not a measure of an dodgy ICO. Do you research in what is being offered, it makes no difference if the dev is called Yolobeast of John Smith.
Success of any blockchain projects (Or any other) mainly depends on Team (Developer & User Community) behind it rather than technology it self. The risk is very high if you can't verify Identity and credibility of the core team behind it.
ICO is very simelar to IPO in stock market , there many fraud companies come with IPO same things running here in ICO too, this post is very useful for spotting ICO scam 
Thank you very much for writing down that idea ! It seems interesting - although for me a big question still persists - as in how important is communicating the identity of a team in such a project? The pure nature in crypto is the same and it is yet to decide how much trust we can/should put in individual human beings in such a trustless environment.
Can someone please tell me what does ICO mean when written out?
I=?
C=?
O=?
i googled hard but foun only crap(islamic caliphate) and "ICO scam" but no explainations
thx in advance.
I=?
C=?
O=?
i googled hard but foun only crap(islamic caliphate) and "ICO scam" but no explainations
thx in advance.
It's like an IPO.
http://www.investopedia.com/terms/i/ipo.asp
it is simple don't be greedy and stop investing in ICO because they are all scams. and the fact that one or two of them goes higher than it is supposed to go and makes you profit doesn't make that one or two coins not-scam but it was a lucky break.
I know Stratis was such a scam. If you put $1000 in it ended up being worth $1,000,000 recently. Such a scam.
I agree with the most of the ansers here. Also take note and monitor the ANN thread of the said coins. Also, background check the devs,his previous projects and people behind the project.Also check the roadmap. There many factors to be considered.
It was decreasing the chance of succeeded scam ico. But I must have believed if that's also not sufficient in my mind. They can pay someone or group for making a drama.
When just put some word in his position, it may deceive the community.
This the central point of me.
Can someone please tell me what does ICO mean when written out?
I=?
C=?
O=?
i googled hard but foun only crap(islamic caliphate) and "ICO scam" but no explainations
thx in advance.
I=?
C=?
O=?
i googled hard but foun only crap(islamic caliphate) and "ICO scam" but no explainations
thx in advance.
Initial Coin Offering
Why do people buy a coin during Ico? Why not wait until it is listed at a decent exchange?
Thank you. They buy because often in the first hour there is a spike in price which some people bet on, in other cases its not a spike but permanent high Price. Its speculation with a grain of Lottofeeling
. Great discussion! As for me, escrow and much discussion on this forum are basic principles to be a good ICO project. Even I can't buy the tokens duiring ICO for some reason, I will buy some coins when they are on exchange platform.
an escrow it not the only thing. there have to be milestones to be reached before the escrow releases some of the funds to the devs.
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