Do international fintech startups need US money transmitter licenses?

The answer is it depends. Are you going to be doing business in the US? If you plan on signing up US customers then you need a money transmitter license for all the US States (and territories) where you plan on doing business. If you are terminating remittances into the United States, when you don’t need a money transmitter license per se, but you need to work with a licensed MSB with the requisite MTLs who would terminate those transactions for you, via a correspondent or settlement agreement.

If you are picking up (i.e. signing) customers from the United States, i.e. remittances are originating from the US, then whomsoever is offering this service, needs to have the requisite money transmitter licenses.

Just because you are outside the United States does not mean, you don’t need the licenses. (You can read up more on this in the section called Money Transmitter Law for Foreign Entities: https://faisalkhan.com/services/...)