If I remember correctly, in the US if you make a money transaction, such as through Western Union, or bank, $3,000+, within the same day, or smaller amounts during consecutive days, the institution must collect your ID information and Social Security and report it to the government. I forget which entity of the government.
Does that mean that if one participates in an ICO and puts in over $3,000, that gets reported to the government? Or if you move $3,000 out of an exchange, that gets reported?
Know your customer method is simply making all things legit and we can avoid those scam ICOs. But I am not saying all.
But not all ICO that want KYC is legit and not scam, for me it's really hard to give my identity in the people who I didn't know, but if I know that I will invest my money in legit it's ok to send my identity because as far as I know KYC is a legal way of investors.