http://techcrunch.com/2014/09/10/coinbase-europe/

A lot of the regulatory environment is still unclear. Some countries have posted guidance on it, while others have been totally silent about it,” said Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong. “We went through a process with each of these countries. We interpreted their guidance, told regulators about our plans and our goals of what we wanted to do. We had a bit of a dialogue, and some countries got comfortable. I will say we certainly have taken a more proactive reaching out to regulators.