Actually this has been a big problem in the cryptocurrency space. It's entirely too onerous to comply with the rather extreme regulations in the finance space so exchanges had to ignore them for the longest time. Some exchanges even have to move countries because it would be nearly impossible to operate "legally". Yet their services are still needed and if they didn't have this freedom and flexibility then the cryptocurrency space might not have had the tools it needed to grow and innovate.

But isn’t SOX for publicy traded companies only?

Yes, but some of it applies to privately held companies as well.

Most large banks and insurance companies are listed.

Oddly, Sarbanes-Oxley also had implications if you were a 501(c)(3) non-profit.

We had two major expenses: liability insurance for meetings and SOX insurance for the officers. Everything else was in the noise.