Bitcoin Foundation (@BTCFoundation)’s attorneys respond to the May 2013 warning letter sent by California’s Department of Financial Institutions. Excerpts:
"The Bitcoin Foundation does not engage in any of these regulated activities. Furthermore, even if it did engage in these activities, it does not have any business operations in California that would subject it to the Department of Financial Institution’s ("DFI") jurisdiction."
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"The Bitcoin Foundation does not have business operations in California that would subject it to the DFI’s jurisdiction. […] The Bitcoin Foundation provides no direct money services to any California consumers."
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"The Bitcoin Foundation is not in the business of selling bitcoin to consumers and does not otherwise operate a bitcoin exchange."
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"Bitcoins are not written or signed notes or drafts, and therefore, are not payment instruments regulated by the California Money Transmitter Act."
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"There is no issuer of bitcoin that would be subject to licensure as a money transmitter under California law."
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"The fact that bitcoin does not fit within the definition of payment instruments or stored value does not mean it is automatically regulated by the money transmission prong."
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"The same rationale that applied to the sale of a peso should prevail under the California statute with regard to the sale of a bitcoin."
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"The Bitcoin Foundation requests that your office issue an opinion that […] the sale of a bitcoin is not regulated under the California Money Transmitter Act."
