So you want to have a utility token sale… (part I of many: the Registration & KYC process)

We are currently in the height of the ICO process at Simple Token, with pre-registration and KYC beginning tomorrow, and then the ST token sale starting on November 14, 2017. Simple Token is a utility token for the OpenST Protocol and we have taken great efforts to run a professional token sale event in a complicated and fast-shifting ICO environment full of froth, uncertainty, speculation and downright scams.

Over on the Simple Token Medium I publish regularly on key topics around the Simple Token project. I’m also available in our Telegram 18 hours a day to answer questions directly from the community.

Over the next weeks I am hoping to share several insider tidbits on the ICO process here on HackerNoon — the good, the exhausting, the challenging, and the icky parts of the most grueling and exhilarating process I’ve been through in my entire professional career.

Today’s post is all about getting the token registration and KYC process right. Feel free to borrow anything here for your own token sale event, or to contact me and our team as we built everything here in-house, with compliance support from our partner Cynopsis Solutions.

Some Top Level Stuff

Our approach to the token distribution event emphasizes the importance of building and nurturing a strong community of Simple Token member companies and developers contributing to the ecosystem, thus we are taking steps to verify every participant.

The required information collected during the registration process allows us to:

Meet Know Your Customer, Anti Money Laundering, counter-terrorist-financing compliance needs; and
Enable fair token distribution by allowing as many participants to join the sale as possible.

Important Information for Sale Participants

The Simple Token public sale is an event during which participants can purchase Simple Token, “ST.” Who should purchase ST? Companies who want to create branded tokens. Developers who want to explore developing on OpenST. Individuals contemplating future projects with ST. ST is not a security and should not be purchased by crypto-speculators.
Ether, “ETH,” will be the only acceptable form of payment in the token distribution event. During registration, you will be asked to enter the address of the Ethereum wallet you will use for the token event.
The price of ETH per ST for the sale will be set prior to the sale.
As part of registration, we will be collecting information with the aim of verifying KYC (“know-your-customer”) for every participant and running the data against AML (“anti-money-laundering”) and CTF (“counter-terrorist-financing”) databases.
You will be able to reserve a branded token name for your project during registration.
Any attempts to send ETH from a different address or directly from an exchange (such as Coinbase, Kraken, Poloniex, etc.) during the distribution event will result in an inability to purchase Simple Token (“ST”) and your ETH may be permanently lost.
Be aware of scam websites or phishing emails attempting to obtain sensitive information such as password or ETH address.
The Simple Token public token sale occurs only on the domain (TBA) and all email communications are sent from the sending domain “@simpletoken.org.”
Important: Simple Token never requests or sends any sensitive information via email.
Very Important: Simple Token never requests or sends any sensitive information via email.

What will you need during the registration process?

Your passport
A camera or a smartphone to take a selfie with your passport
Your Public Ethereum Address (Got questions? Refer to the Wallet section below)
If you are a Chinese national, you are entitled to participate only if you reside abroad. In this special case you will need to provide your Proof of Residency.

Who can participate?

Any individual, who is 18 years or older, and who does not fall in the following buckets is entitled to participate in the token sale.

The citizens of the following countries are not eligible to participate in the token sale: Afghanistan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Central African Republic, Cuba, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Guinea-Bissau, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Lebanon, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Uganda, Vanuatu, and Yemen.
Residents of the following countries are not eligible to participate in the token sale: Afghanistan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Central African Republic, China, Cuba, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Guinea-Bissau, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Lebanon, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Uganda, Vanuatu, and Yemen.
The IP addresses of the above-mentioned countries are blocked to prevent the participation in the token sale. The use of a VPN is considered an illegal action and will be reported to the competent authorities.
If you reside in the New York State in the United States of America, you are not entitled to participate in the token sale due to state regulation.
If you reside in Crimea, you are not entitled to participate in the token sale

Registration Form

In order to be eligible to participate in the token distribution event, you must complete the registration process.

You may start the registration process on 1 November, 2017 by visiting the Simple Token website and clicking on the “Register Now” button at the top of the page. Do not attempt to register on any other website other than https://simpletoken.org

Step 1: Visit the Simple Token Website

Step 2: Sign-up with Email and Password

To participate in the token sale, you have to create a personal account with Simple Token.

On the registration page you will be asked to enter your email.

If you have received a 10% bonus from participating in the ‘Proof of Support Rewards’ or any other special program, make sure to use the exact same email address.

You are required to set a password for your account. The email address and password will be required to log into your account to see your personal dashboard and to participate in the token sale. In case there is an issue related to KYC/AML/CTF checks, you will need to log into your account to update the information.

Make sure to set a strong password that you do not use on any other website and do not share your password with anyone.

Step 3: Personal details

After creating an account, you will be asked to input your personal details listed below.

First name
Last name
Date of birth
Address Details: Street Address, City, State / Region, Country, ZIP / Postal Code
Please make sure to enter your name exactly as it appears in your passport. If your passport contains Latin characters, please provide the Latin characters. We cannot guarantee that passports with non-Latin characters will be accepted. ** We only accept passports. We made a decision to set a very high bar around compliance to ensure a safe and fair token sale. Simple Token is a utility token and we want to make sure that it is going to be used for utility. We are sorry if our approach might exclude some people, but we think that it is for the best long term interest of the community and the Simple Token ecosystem.

Step 4: Enter your Ethereum Wallet Address

When entering your Ethereum wallet address, make sure that your Ethereum Wallet supports ERC20 tokens and that you own the Private Key of the wallet.

Supported wallets for the token sale include MyEtherWallet, Mist-Ethereum Wallet, MetaMask, Parity, imToken, Ledger, Trezor, and others. You cannot use a service such as Coinbase which manages your keys.

The address you have entered must be used during the token sale when you complete your purchase. Sending ETH from any address other than the registered address will not be accepted. This wallet address can only be set ONCE, and no future amendment will be permitted after you submit the data.

Note: DO NOT SEND ETH from exchanges like Coinbase, Poloniex, Kraken, etc. It will be rejected.

Step 5: Identity documents

After filling your personal details and Ethereum Address you will be asked to provide additional identity documents in the form of:

High quality copy of your passport in PNG / JPG / PDF format;
A picture of you holding your passport. Please make sure we can clearly see both you and your passport in the photo.

Note: The passport copy must match the information provided in the KYC form.

Step 6: Verify Information and Accept Terms

After submitting your personal details and KYC, you will have to verify information you have submitted and agree to the Terms and Conditions. Please take time to carefully read the Terms and Conditions.

Step 7: Reserve your Branded Token

After you verify your information and agree to the Terms and Conditions, you will be taken a page, where you can reserve a name for your branded token. This is a reservation only and not a guarantee that you can use this name. Reserved names will be reviewed by the OpenST Foundation to ensure that you have the rights to use this name. It will be possible to confirm/change the reserved name when Branded Tokens “BT” are minted during the member company registration process.

Step 8: Account Activation

Important: After registration is done, you will receive an email from Simple Token asking you to activate your account. Please note, that the account will remain inactive, until you to confirm your registration submission.

Don’t let your hard work go to waste. Make sure to verify your account.

You can now log into your account to see the status of your application.

You will receive from tokensale@simpletoken.org an email about the status of registration, whether it is “approved” or “rejected”. In some cases (e.g., a low quality ID photo), the email message will contain a request to re-submit your details. In such instance, you need to log in with your password and then re-submit your details or identification document.

Note: Only emails from exactly this address (tokensale@simpletoken.org) are from us. We will never send links or personal data via email. You will need to enter or click on the URL: (TBA) and follow the log-in procedure to update your details.

Delay in confirmation of registration

If we experience a heavy influx of users, processing times for verification could slow down. It does not necessarily mean there is something wrong with your submission. Please be patient, as we would contact you if your KYC information was approved or if there is something wrong with the information you have provided. Make sure to monitor the email associated with your Simple Token registration submission to see if you’ve received an email from us about verification.

You should take these precautions

Never send ETH to any address during the registration process.
Bookmark the registration page (TBA), and never visit the registration site from any email links.
DO NOT SEND ETH from exchanges like Coinbase, Poloniex, Kraken, etc.
DO NOT USE multisignature wallets.
Never reply to our emails. Perform all your operations only on our website. You can check your registration status on our website by logging into your account.

Wallets

The information below is of a general nature only. OpenST Foundation and Simple Token can only make suggestions and recommendations regarding wallets. We strongly urge you to conduct your own research.

MyEtherWallet

We have had good experiences with My Ether Wallet.

Here is their guide to getting started taken directly from their website:

MyEtherWallet gives you the ability to generate new wallets so you can store your ETH & Tokens yourself, not on an exchange. This process happens entirely on your computer, not our servers. We are not a web wallet. We are a client-side interface that allows you to interact with the Ethereum blockchain. We never save, store, or transmit any sensitive information ever. Therefore, when you generate a new wallet, you are responsible for safely backing it up.

In order to get started:

Trezor

Trezor is one of the most popular hardware wallets. You can purchase your wallet from them directly or on Amazon.

This video does a good job of explaining how to access ERC-20 Tokens like ST on your Trezor.

How to transfer ETH to your MyEtherWallet from CoinBase

At Simple Token we support our community in the Token Sale process. We have created this simple guide on how to transfer your ETH from CoinBase to MyEtherWallet in case you need some support.

Here below we provide the instructions to get quickly through this process.

In the following short guide you will learn how to:

a. Set up an Exchange account to change fiat into cryptocurrencyb. Buy ETH from an Exchange platformc. Set up an address on a wallet that you will be able to use in the Simple Token token saled. Transfer ETH from an Exchange to a wallet

This guide focuses on using Coinbase and MyEtherWallet as many users have asked clarification on this specific process.

If you have any other questions on different mediums you can join us on the Simple Token Telegram channel (t.me/simpletoken) and we will be glad to support you.

Step 1.Log into your Coinbase Account.

Step 2.In the top menu click on “Accounts” and select your ETH Wallet to check your balance.

Step 3.Click on the button “Send” and staying on the “Wallet Address” tab. In the Recipient field enter your MyEtherWallet address. Select the amount in ETH or your selected currency and leave a note to help you remember the transaction reason in the future.

When you are ready, click on continue.

Important: Keep in mind that a transaction fee will apply based on the amount selected that is a surcharge calculated as a percentage of the sum transferred. This sum will be reflected at the end of the transaction.

You will be now redirected to a confirmation page with the amount transferred.

You have now transferred ETH in your MyEtherWallet. Remember to keep your keystore file, private key, and recovery phrase in a secure location and never share them with anybody.

Before you are able to send ETH to the Simple Token token Sale address, you will need to complete your registration and pass KYC check.

We take privacy and security very seriously. Here are some of the steps that we have taken to protect our customers’ personal data:

Data transfer happens over secure connection using HTTPS.
All data is stored in an encrypted form on the server. Each user’s data is encrypted using a unique salt, which is itself encrypted by HSM based key manager.
Data can not be retrieved using the user’s password. So even if the password gets compromised, user data can not be accessed.
Our website and infrastructure passed Cure53’s security analysis and review to uncover vulnerability patterns and attacks.

Some FAQ’s

How does Early Access work? The token sale starts on November 14, 2017. The first day of the token sale is restricted to Early Access whitelisted individuals only. To get on the Early Access whitelist, register at https://simpletoken.org/ between 1–11 November, 2017. A standard KYC / AML / CTF compliance check is required. Once your KYC / AML / CTF is approved, you will be added to the Early Access whitelist.
What if I miss the preregistration period? If you register after 11 November you can still register and participate in the Public token sale which starts on 15 November. A standard KYC/AML/CTF compliance check is required. Once your KYC / AML / CTF is approved, you will be added to the Public Sale whitelist.
Requirements or restrictions? Any individual over age of 18, who passes KYC / AML / CTF checks can participate in the token sale with the exception of residents of U.N sanctioned countries, China and New York State (USA). To learn more about the KYC / AML / CTF requirements or about the specific restrictions please visit our FAQ pages or ask our team in our Telegram channel.
Which ETH Address should you send the money in? Copy: Simple Token will never publish an ETH address here or in any emails, or on social media sites. The only place you will get our ETH address is when you log into your account on https://sale.simpletoken.org and only after you have completed all requirements to enable your account to purchase.

See all FAQs

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