So more recently, ICO's have been barring US citizens from participating.... Because of the SEC..

The SEC has laws that prevent people who aren't "Accredited Investors" from trading securities. But what does that mean? Does it mean only fancy pants business people and Wall Street moguls get to get in on the big bucks? (No, but also kinda yes.. more on the latter later).

Is there a formal way to apply for this "Holy OMG, I can gamble away my money" accreditation? No... well and sorta yes..

You see, the term "Accredited Investor" is misleading. It doesn't mean you have to pass some exam, fill out a ton of paperwork (you have to gather a lot of paper work, but not really more than you normally would do when you file your taxes)?

Nope, you just need 2 things. A lot of money, and whatever institution you're going to be trading with.

If you make over $200k/year, you don't really have to do a thing but bring in your tax returns for the past couple of years, and maybe a letter from your current employer stating you are still making that kind of cash... then show up at your favorite securities broker, and you're set.... nothing special, nothing crazy, just purely, if you got the cash, we got the trash to sell you. (Come on, so many have been burned by trash securities, especially those that shell out their life savings to trade them. Remember Mortgage backed securities? Well we all know how that shit pile turned out.)

You won't get some special certificate of accreditation, cause the Feds and SEC doesn't actually directly care. These were supposed to protect investors, but hey, at those prices of entry, it's really just barring the non-wealthy from participating. They say it's for our own good, but then again, why isn't this imposed on Casinos or gambling venues? You can easily lose your life savings playing blackjack in Reno.

https://www.wikihow.com/Become-an-Accredited-Investor

But then why are these websites and entities in foreign countries just plain saying "No you can't buy into our ICO"?

Because of the SEC. The SEC requires that all US investors must be well documented, and also meet the criteria for investing mentioned above. But how can these companies know? Hell, why would they want to even keep track of all of you when everyone that uses the internet knows that NO ONE LIES on their profiles. That's basically it. Unlike within the US, if you need a securities broker, you have to (usually) visit them at their place of business.

The SEC is also the primary reason you either have a hard ass time, or flat out cannot open up a bank account in a foreign country.

BUT (remember I said also yes regarding rich and fancy pant Wall Street folks), if you have oodles of cash, you can open up bank accounts in foreign countries. Quite easily.... If I showed up in say.... Hong Kong with $20k USD, they'll tell me to take a hike.. but if I showed up with a fat $20 million bank check.. they'll be like...

Again, it's just shoveling shit to the not so wealthy / poor people.

I think all this is crazy bullshit though. Because anyone can just open up a Etrade account and start trading, regardless of how much money you don't make. And Etrade is a Canadian company owned by a Canadian bank. https://www.tdameritrade.com/why-td-ameritrade.page?a=pqm&cid=PSBRA&cid=PSBRA&ef_id=Werk5QAAAHNO9ByY:20180109053229:s&s_kwcid=AL!2521!3!171348293246!e!!g!!td%2520ameritrade&referrer=https%253A%252F%252Fwww.google.com%252F

I digress.

My personal advice, if you're looking to speculate, and enter any market where you're paying real fiat for VALUE ON PAPER, and not get any real return unless your VALUE ON PAPER increases (or decreases, but that's another post, yes, you can make money by betting that shit loses value, or even straight goes out of business.), unless you have money you're WILLING TO LOSE. <-- That part is very important. Especially if you're just an everyday ordinary person with an ordinary income like the other 98% of us are. Sure we have some cash in the stash, but can you afford to lose some of it? That's the question you must ask yourself before you do any type of investing.

*** I hold a diversified portfolio of commercial securities as well as crypto currencies. I'm also a miner (no, not a coal miner, I don't use a shovel). I am invested in foreign ICOs (Helps when you're a dual Brit/American). I'm not shilling, I'm just ranting.