Core team are useful puppets to somebody
Discussion
Not only that, but the ones who are left were the ones who weren't ruthlessly harrassed legally or otherwise, or continued on despite that. I believe that a good portion of the survivors are those whose beliefs are in line with what intelligence agencies want, or are agents themselves.
I'm not super informed on all that. I refuse to make any judgment there. In such a case, it would be convenient for government to selectively enforce their rules to more harshly penalize dissenters consistent to the cause of voluntary hard money.