Why are some cryptocurrencies not sold in the US?

It’s hard to find a consistent legal approach to cryptocurrencies in the United States. Laws governing exchanges vary by state, and federal authorities actually differ in their definition of the term ‘cryptocurrency’. The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) doesn’t consider cryptocurrencies to be legal tender but since 2013 has considered exchanges as money transmitters (subject to their jurisdiction) on the basis that tokens are “other value that substitutes for currency”. The IRS, by contrast, regards cryptocurrencies as property – and has issued tax guidance accordingly.

Cryptocurrency Exchange Regulations

Cryptocurrency exchange regulations in the United States are also in an uncertain legal territory, and several of the federal regulators claim jurisdiction. Of the major US regulatory bodies, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has indicated that it considers cryptocurrencies to be securities: in March 2018 it stated that it was looking to apply securities laws comprehensively for digital wallets and exchanges. By contrast, The Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has adopted a friendlier, “do no harm” approach, describing bitcoin as a commodity and allowing cryptocurrency derivatives to trade publicly.

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Blockchain Regulations in the U.S.

The U.S. maintains a generally positive outlook on the use of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, though few formal rules have actually been introduced. Most of the regulatory discussion surrounding blockchain has been at the agency level, including the Department of Treasury, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) — all of which hold differ in their definitions of "cryptocurrency," as well as their stances on how regulation should be applied.

While FinCEN does not consider cryptocurrency to be legal tender, it does consider exchanges as money transmitters subject to their jurisdiction. Meanwhile, the IRS has begun considering cryptocurrencies property, and has issued tax guidance accordingly.

Despite interest from these agencies, the federal government has not exercised its constitutional preemptive power to regulate blockchain to the exclusion of states (as it generally does with financial regulation), thereby leaving individual states free to introduce their own rules and regulations.

In June 2015, New York became the first state in the U.S. to regulate virtual currency companies through state agency rulemaking. As of 2019, 32 states have introduced legislation accepting or promoting the use of Bitcoin and blockchain distributed ledger technology (DLT), while a few have already passed them into law. Some of these states have also established task forces to study the technology's use further.

Bitcoin took a major step in 2017, when it was granted the same financial safeguards as traditional assets. The FTC gave cryptocurrency trading platform operator LedgerX approval to become the first federally regulated digital currency options exchange and clearinghouse in the U.S.

Additionally, in June 2019, SEC-registered clearing and execution company Apex Clearing launched a trading platform for brokers-dealers and financial advisors to help their clients trade the four major cryptocurrencies - Bitcoin, Bitcoin cash, Ethereum, and Litecoin - through its subsidiary Apex Crypto.