Correct me if Im wrong, but US residents can still buy the tokens from exchanges once they are listed?
I think it is just like that
As far as I know, mainly exchanges make restrictions on the withdrawal of funds without personal verification.
okay I did not knew that - how does ether delta handle this?
To protect US citizens from losing money through scam ridden ICOs, the SEC took the measure of disallowing its citizens from joining the bandwagon. Right now the route to buying tokens is a bit circuitous. Swipe your card through an exchange like coinbase or changelly for ethereum or bitcoin, and then you go ahead get the token. For etherdelta, you sign-in by syncing your etherwallet. Not the safest route ever.
I don't recommend using etherdelta - lately they allowed substitution dns server, as result were stolen various tokens cost of millions dollars.
In the case of decentralization, no one is responsible for this.