See title.

I'm working on a software company that will deal with currency conversion and paying invoices on behalf of my clients. After looking for banks i kept seeing a disclaimer about not being allowed to use bank services as a "money services business" and looked it up.

Attorneys verified that I am indeed designing a Money Services Business, but nothing past that yet.

From my own research it seems prohibitively expensive to register as one, has anyone here done it? Is it possible as a small business?

Some sites have cited it being $175k to start and $135k a year to maintain registration. Just looking for experience or advice from someone who has been through it or else takes on my options that I'm looking at below.

As we see it, if it costs that much, my partner and I have a few options: 1. Try to get a few customers to prove the use case before the compliance deadlines and try to raise money 2. Try to pitch the idea and build the product at an existing business that is already certified 3. Try to restructure the idea so that it doesn't fall under the definition of an MSB