"[5] In June 2013, the foundation received a letter from the California Department of Financial Institutions requesting that they "cease and desist from conducting the business of money transmission in this state,"[7] and again when it published their detailed response to the regulators.

[8] In January 2014, the foundation's vice-chairman, Charlie Shrem, was arrested for aiding and abetting the operation of an unlicensed money-transmitting business related to his role in assisting agents of the online marketplace Silk Road; he resigned later that month and pled guilty in September 2014.

[14][15] In July 2014, the foundation retained a lobbying firm, Thorsen French Advocacy, to work for a favorable regulatory environment in the United States for bitcoin.

[17][12] In May 2014, BTC China (now BTCC) CEO Bobby Lee and venture capitalist Brock Pierce were appointed to the foundation's board of directors, filling vacancies left by the resignations of Shrem and Karpelès.

[citation needed] Ten people resigned from the foundation due to allegations dating from 2000 that Pierce had pressured minors into sex at a company he had founded.