The US has the deepest pool of crypto capital and engineering talent in the world and the most fragmented regulation. Federal agencies split jurisdiction by what your token or service is, and states add their own licenses on top. The policy climate improved markedly in 2025, but the structure you must navigate is still layered, so product design and legal analysis have to happen together.
Who regulates what
- SEC: tokens and arrangements that are securities, including tokenized equity and debt, and platforms trading them. The Howey test remains the core analysis. Under new leadership in 2025, the agency closed several high-profile crypto cases, rescinded SAB 121 (the custody accounting bulletin) and began work on rules for crypto assets and tokenized securities; staff statements have addressed topics such as meme coins and protocol staking.
- CFTC: commodities derivatives, and anti-fraud authority over spot commodity markets. Bitcoin and ether have long been treated as commodities by the CFTC. Perpetuals, prediction markets and leveraged products for US users land here.
- FinCEN: anyone who accepts and transmits value, including custodial wallets and exchanges, is generally a money services business and must register with FinCEN, run an AML program and file suspicious activity reports.
- States: most states require money transmitter licenses for custodial crypto businesses. New York's BitLicense, administered by the NYDFS since 2015, is the best known and the most demanding.
- Banking regulators (OCC, Federal Reserve, FDIC): relevant if you partner with banks or seek a trust charter.
The GENIUS Act and market structure
The GENIUS Act, signed in July 2025, created the first federal framework for payment stablecoins: issuance by permitted issuers (bank subsidiaries, federally qualified nonbank issuers and state-qualified issuers under a size threshold), one-to-one reserves in high-quality liquid assets, redemption rights and AML obligations. Implementing regulations follow on a timeline set by the Act, so date-check anything you read. If your product issues, holds or pays with stablecoins, this law shapes your partners and flows; see the stablecoin development guide.
Broader market structure legislation, which would divide token oversight between the SEC and CFTC, passed the House in 2025 as the CLARITY Act. Check its current status before relying on it; until a statute is in force, the Howey analysis and existing agency positions still govern.
What this means for product design
Non-custodial software is the lightest-touch model: if users hold their own keys and you never control funds, you usually avoid money transmission. That is why many US teams ship self-custody wallets, protocol front ends and developer tooling first. Adding custody, fiat on-ramps, a token you sell to fund development, yield products or US-facing derivatives each brings a regulator into play. Map each feature to its regulatory trigger before building it, rather than retrofitting compliance later.
Entity choice also matters. Many protocol teams use a Delaware C-corp for the development company and a separate foundation or DAO entity elsewhere. Wyoming created a DAO LLC form in 2021 for teams wanting a US wrapper for on-chain governance.
The talent market
The US has the largest concentration of experienced protocol engineers, security researchers and crypto-native product people, centered on San Francisco and New York, with active communities in Austin, Miami, Boston (driven by MIT and university research), Seattle and Denver. Remote work is the norm in crypto, so geography matters less for hiring than for fundraising and regulatory relationships.
US engineers are among the most expensive in the world, and senior Solidity and Rust engineers with audit or protocol experience command a premium even within that market. Many US startups run a hybrid model: founders, product, security leadership and compliance in the US; part of the engineering in Canada, Latin America, Europe or Asia.
Choosing a development partner
When a US-based team matters
- You are building a regulated product (custody, exchange, broker-dealer, tokenized securities) and need people who have been through state licensing exams or SEC filings.
- You serve banks or large enterprises that require US data residency, US background checks or SOC 2 reports.
- You need overlap with US working hours for a fast-moving product team.
When remote is fine
For non-custodial apps, smart contracts, and internal tools, a strong remote team with good audit discipline is often the better value. What matters is the quality of the security process: test coverage, internal review, an independent smart contract audit and a plan for incident response.
Questions to ask any team
- Have you built products that went through a state money transmitter or BitLicense review? What did examiners focus on?
- How would you design this so that we never take custody, if that is our goal?
- Who on your side has authority to deploy contracts or touch keys?
- Which US sanctions and OFAC screening tools have you integrated?
For broader evaluation criteria see blockchain consulting, and compare jurisdictions in the Canada and UK guides.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a license to launch a DeFi app in the US?
A non-custodial interface that never controls user funds often does not need a money transmitter license, but token sales, front-end fees, derivatives and sanctions exposure raise separate questions. Get a written analysis of your specific design.
Is a BitLicense needed for all New York users?
It applies to virtual currency business activity involving New York or its residents, such as custody, exchange and transmission. Pure software and some other activities fall outside it. Many startups geo-block New York until they can license.
Can a US startup sell a token to raise money?
A token sold to fund development with an expectation of profit is likely a security, so it needs a registration or exemption such as Reg D. Many teams raise equity and distribute tokens later under a separate analysis.
Has the GENIUS Act taken full effect?
It is law, but many provisions depend on implementing rules and an effective date tied to those rules. Check current regulator guidance for which requirements already apply.