Security laws aside, blockchain projects can also be seen as currency and thus run into another set of laws: those governing banks and other money-handling businesses. In the United States and elsewhere, companies that deal with remittances, payments, and other common blockchain use-cases could be seen as money transmitters. In the United States, such businesses must be licensed on a state-by-state basis. Other use cases may require a banking license.

For a global enterprise using blockchain, the regulatory burden to fully comply with the mix of laws and regulations—know-your-customer laws, anti-money laundering laws, money transmitter laws, banking laws, security sales and marketing laws, and so on can be immense.

For these reasons, many blockchain companies tend to defensively headquarter themselves in friendly jurisdictions with the hope of being legal in their primary home and dealing with the rest of the world later, if ever.