It seems most US startups spend more time armchair lawyering than actually creating value these days -- it's a sad state of affairs.
Indeed. I looked into what it takes to run an a business that transfers money between USD and BTC in California per the FinCen guidance, and it's very onerous on a new business; in fact there are only about 25 "money transmission" companies registered in California. Then multiply that by 49x, even though the laws/regulations are likely harmonized you have to go through the same approval process and that takes many man hours.
It's sad that we're so overburdened with regulations because the federal gov't is incapable of doing it's job and is essentially throwing the costs of enforcement onto private business. It's like a hidden tax.