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Topic: Scenario: Receiving ICO tokens and living in prohibited country (Read 101 times)

full member
Activity: 406
Merit: 109
Looking for some info on this scenario. We all know that the US and China and some other countries are often prohibited from investing in ICO's. My question is regarding a scenario where you purchase tokens from an ICO during a time when your country is NOT on the prohibited list, you receive the tokens, and then shortly afterwards are contacted by the ICO company notifying you that your country is on the prohibited list. You passed KYC and this company disbursed you tokens. They want the tokens to be sent back for a refund. You're thinking that they are trying to cover their asses legally as it is illegal to have sold you these tokens. I'm just curious whether anyone could provide any insight into this situation. It's strange because you already HAVE the tokens, and they have accepted your money in exchange for them. They processed this transaction. Could they force you to return these? I've never been on the other side of this transaction (trying to run a company and avoiding legal trouble) and hoping for some context.

Are they going to issue the refund regardless of whether the tokens are sent back to protect themselves?
Who has leverage in this situation? (ICO vs. participant)


All input is welcome!



It has happened in the past, your tokens stay freezed and they suggest to reimburse via ETH in past scenarios, however, as you can see from the comments above, you have the upper hand, if your tokens are not freezed, you can keep them with you, no one can force you to return the crypto you bought in ICO in legit way.
hero member
Activity: 1540
Merit: 507

If your token will be sent back to the ico team and they should give refund for that. But it may better to do a lot of research and when your token worth more than 2x from the ico price and if the team will try to refund based on the ico price and you will be lost a lot. Remember this you can try to find another way. If ethereum is not considered as a security and then it will be fine to convert them to the ethereum. But they can't force you to give back your tokens. You deserve what you have paid to them all.
full member
Activity: 266
Merit: 101
Cryptomooniac - to the moon and beyond...
If they sold the tokens already to you, and you have them, but they are still locked, nothing you can do. They will reimburse those tokens. If they are unlocked you could theoretically trade them or do even an OTC transaction. You could already have sold them before they contacted you. Or transferred to any other wallet, and they cannot know if it is your wallet or someone else.
legendary
Activity: 2114
Merit: 1150
https://bitcoincleanup.com/
Looking for some info on this scenario. We all know that the US and China and some other countries are often prohibited from investing in ICO's. My question is regarding a scenario where you purchase tokens from an ICO during a time when your country is NOT on the prohibited list, you receive the tokens, and then shortly afterwards are contacted by the ICO company notifying you that your country is on the prohibited list. You passed KYC and this company disbursed you tokens. They want the tokens to be sent back for a refund. You're thinking that they are trying to cover their asses legally as it is illegal to have sold you these tokens. I'm just curious whether anyone could provide any insight into this situation. It's strange because you already HAVE the tokens, and they have accepted your money in exchange for them. They processed this transaction. Could they force you to return these? I've never been on the other side of this transaction (trying to run a company and avoiding legal trouble) and hoping for some context.

Are they going to issue the refund regardless of whether the tokens are sent back to protect themselves?
Who has leverage in this situation? (ICO vs. participant)


All input is welcome!


Interesting situation you raised here.

My take:
1. Both parties were in good faith and cannot be faulted from the ban.
2. Asking you to return the tokens to them in exchange for the investment you made is not a "trying to cover their asses". It is more like a good initiative from them.
3. I do not know if they could force you, I think they could only ask. It is on your part if you want to take the risk. As for them, they already did their part.
hero member
Activity: 980
Merit: 507
Most of ICO right now need KYC if we want to be participate in their project, I've even encountered more complicated cases, so initially the ICO does not require KYC, we already bought it but the token is still in the website platform. And a few weeks later there was an announcement from the ICO that the participants had to fill KYC to get their tokens into their ETH wallet.

Since this cases, i stop following on ICO that needed KYC.
Off-topic here, but one point that I will tell here is: ICOs shouldn't ask for KYC after you send your money. That is shady af. Also, if they do, the legitimacy of it gets questioned and people also fake their KYC.
You can never know which ICOs require KYC,so that is a pain in the ass.

OP, what happened to your case?
member
Activity: 473
Merit: 11
My question is regarding a scenario where you purchase tokens from an ICO during a time when your country is NOT on the prohibited list, you receive the tokens, and then shortly afterwards are contacted by the ICO company notifying you that your country is on the prohibited list. You passed KYC and this company disbursed you tokens. They want the tokens to be sent back for a refund. You're thinking that they are trying to cover their asses legally as it is illegal to have sold you these tokens. I'm just curious whether anyone could provide any insight into this situation. It's strange because you already HAVE the tokens, and they have accepted your money in exchange for them. They processed this transaction. Could they force you to return these? I've never been on the other side of this transaction (trying to run a company and avoiding legal trouble) and hoping for some context.

Are they going to issue the refund regardless of whether the tokens are sent back to protect themselves?
Who has leverage in this situation? (ICO vs. participant)


All input is welcome!

Firstly, why would you even give your KYC for an ICO? Are you crazy stupid?

You can sue them if you want to, or you could just ignore them and not refund them their tokens.

The participant has leverage in this situation, for one main reason, they never stated that if you live in a particular country, you're not allowed to participate in an ICO. So you have the bigger hand here, and a piece of advice: Don't give your KYC to anyone. Did your parents not tell you that you shouldn't accept chocolates from strangers? Well, this situation is much worse. Sad

Most of ICO right now need KYC if we want to be participate in their project, I've even encountered more complicated cases, so initially the ICO does not require KYC, we already bought it but the token is still in the website platform. And a few weeks later there was an announcement from the ICO that the participants had to fill KYC to get their tokens into their ETH wallet.

Since this cases, i stop following on ICO that needed KYC.
member
Activity: 364
Merit: 13
When your tokens are in your wallet, you are the only owner of that tokens. No one else can control them. No one can force you. Also, I don't think there is any illegal issue. You are not doing something illegal. You have bought the tokens when you were allowed to.
hero member
Activity: 980
Merit: 507
My question is regarding a scenario where you purchase tokens from an ICO during a time when your country is NOT on the prohibited list, you receive the tokens, and then shortly afterwards are contacted by the ICO company notifying you that your country is on the prohibited list. You passed KYC and this company disbursed you tokens. They want the tokens to be sent back for a refund. You're thinking that they are trying to cover their asses legally as it is illegal to have sold you these tokens. I'm just curious whether anyone could provide any insight into this situation. It's strange because you already HAVE the tokens, and they have accepted your money in exchange for them. They processed this transaction. Could they force you to return these? I've never been on the other side of this transaction (trying to run a company and avoiding legal trouble) and hoping for some context.

Are they going to issue the refund regardless of whether the tokens are sent back to protect themselves?
Who has leverage in this situation? (ICO vs. participant)


All input is welcome!

Firstly, why would you even give your KYC for an ICO? Are you crazy stupid?

You can sue them if you want to, or you could just ignore them and not refund them their tokens.

The participant has leverage in this situation, for one main reason, they never stated that if you live in a particular country, you're not allowed to participate in an ICO. So you have the bigger hand here, and a piece of advice: Don't give your KYC to anyone. Did your parents not tell you that you shouldn't accept chocolates from strangers? Well, this situation is much worse. Sad
legendary
Activity: 1667
Merit: 1008
Stoned & Stranged
Looking for some info on this scenario. We all know that the US and China and some other countries are often prohibited from investing in ICO's. My question is regarding a scenario where you purchase tokens from an ICO during a time when your country is NOT on the prohibited list, you receive the tokens, and then shortly afterwards are contacted by the ICO company notifying you that your country is on the prohibited list. You passed KYC and this company disbursed you tokens. They want the tokens to be sent back for a refund. You're thinking that they are trying to cover their asses legally as it is illegal to have sold you these tokens. I'm just curious whether anyone could provide any insight into this situation. It's strange because you already HAVE the tokens, and they have accepted your money in exchange for them. They processed this transaction. Could they force you to return these? I've never been on the other side of this transaction (trying to run a company and avoiding legal trouble) and hoping for some context.

Are they going to issue the refund regardless of whether the tokens are sent back to protect themselves?
Who has leverage in this situation? (ICO vs. participant)


All input is welcome!


In the case of tokens on the ETH network they will most likely (as some ICOs are doing already) send back the Ethereum sent by the user while freezing the ERC20 tokens, so that they can't be moved anymore.
newbie
Activity: 6
Merit: 0
Looking for some info on this scenario. We all know that the US and China and some other countries are often prohibited from investing in ICO's. My question is regarding a scenario where you purchase tokens from an ICO during a time when your country is NOT on the prohibited list, you receive the tokens, and then shortly afterwards are contacted by the ICO company notifying you that your country is on the prohibited list. You passed KYC and this company disbursed you tokens. They want the tokens to be sent back for a refund. You're thinking that they are trying to cover their asses legally as it is illegal to have sold you these tokens. I'm just curious whether anyone could provide any insight into this situation. It's strange because you already HAVE the tokens, and they have accepted your money in exchange for them. They processed this transaction. Could they force you to return these? I've never been on the other side of this transaction (trying to run a company and avoiding legal trouble) and hoping for some context.

Are they going to issue the refund regardless of whether the tokens are sent back to protect themselves?
Who has leverage in this situation? (ICO vs. participant)


All input is welcome!
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