As the most prominent trade group pushing adoption of the electronic currency Bitcoin begins its annual conference on Friday, it is being roiled by controversy.

At least 10 members of the nonprofit Bitcoin Foundation have resigned over last weeks election of onetime Disney child star and current Bitcoin entrepreneur and financier Brock Pierce as a new director, officials at the group said.

Some of the members cited Pierces troubled past. That includes allegations in lawsuits from three employees of Pierces first company, bankrupt web video business Digital Entertainment Network, that he provided drugs and pressured them for sex when they were minors.

Pierce has denied the accusations, which first surfaced in 2000.

The allegations against me are not true, and I have never had intimate or sexual contact with any of the people who made those allegations, Pierce told Reuters via email.

Court records show 33-year-old Pierce, who played the title role in Disneys First Kid, paid more than $21,000 to settle one employee suit, and he said others dropped their claims without money changing hands.

While Bitcoin Foundation officials played down the defections, several members who resigned from the foundation assailed its governance track record.

The track record of prominent Bitcoin Foundation members has been abysmal, Patrick Alexander, a resigning foundation member, said in a post on its discussion pages. I no longer want to be associated with these people. Attempts to reach him for additional comment were unsuccessful.

Though it is highly volatile, the value of the electronic currency in existence has skyrocketed into the billions of dollars as the number of businesses accepting it has increased and investors have sought to create new ways for it to be used.

More than 1,000 Bitcoin investors, business people and enthusiasts are expected to attend the conference in Amsterdam.

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Underage sex claims rock Bitcoin group