Those laws predate crypto, and so from the government's perspective the alternatives were operating illegally: https://www.fincen.gov/news/news-releases/fincen-

Those laws predate crypto, and so from the government's perspective the alternatives were operating illegally: https://www.fincen.gov/news/news-releases/fincen-penalizes-peer-peer-virtual-currency-exchanger-violations-anti-money https://www.fincen.gov/news/news-releases/fincen-penalizes-p... https://bitcoinmagazine.com/culture/man-sentenced-illegal-money-transmission-services-localbitcoins https://bitcoinmagazine.com/culture/man-sentenced-illegal-mo...