Resolution no. 21863

Order, pursuant to article 7-octies, paragraph 1, letter b) of Legislative Decree no. 58/1998 ("Consolidated Law on Finance") to cease the infringement of article 18 of the Consolidated Law on Finance carried out through the website www.dgxlimited.io

LA COMMISSIONE NAZIONALE PER LE SOCIETÀ E LA BORSA
[THE NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR COMPANIES AND THE STOCK EXCHANGE]

HAVING REGARD TO Law no. 216 of 7 June 1974 and subsequent amendments and supplements;

HAVING REGARD TO Legislative Decree no. 58 of 24 February 1998 ("Consolidated Law on Finance") and subsequent amendments and supplements;

HAVING ESTABLISHED that audits conducted on the website www.dgxlimited.io ascertained that:

i. the website www.dgxlimited.io - which is active, registered anonymously and also available in Italian - offers potential investors the opportunity to trade CFDs on currencies, shares, commodities and cryptocurrencies;

ii. in order to be able to trade, registration with the site - through the registration procedure which is also available for Italian users - the opening of an account and payment of a sum of money are required;

iii. specifically, the website www.dgxlimited.io advertises five types of account, depending on the minimum deposit required and the benefits promised, known as "Base", "Bronzo", "Argento", "Oro" and "Platino", plus an additional type of account named "Nero", reserved to "exclusive customers", with respect to which users are requested to "contact the Account Manager";

iv. as far as traceability is concerned, the section of the site www.dgxlimited.io entitled "our company", makes reference to the company Digital Exchange Limited; the separate "contact us" section mentions Securex Plus Solutions EOOD, with alleged registered office in Bulgaria; furthermore,the"terms and conditions" of the website www.dgxlimited.io, which is only available in English, state that "Digital Exchange Limited ("the Company") offers access to its web site to you the costumer [...] and the use of its services [...]. Digital Exchange Limited is owned and operated by Securex Plus Solutions EOOD";

v. the above mentioned "contact us" section of the www.dgxlimited.io website indicates a contact telephone number with an Italian country code specifically dedicated to Italy;

HAVING REGARD TO resolutions no. 21381 of 21 May 2020, no. 21469 of 29 July 2020 and no. 21530 of 7 October 2020, whereby Digital Exchange Limited and Securex Plus Solutions EOOD were ordered to cease their infringement of article 18 of the Consolidated Law on Finance conducted through the separate websites www.dgxltd.com, www.dgxltd.ioand www.dgxlimited.com respectively;

WHEREAS the website www.dgxlimited.io replicates the content and graphic format of the above mentioned websites www.dgxltd.com, www.dgxltd.io and www.dgxlimited.com, and furthermore the domain used is similar to the domains of the aforementioned websites www.dgxltd.com, www.dgxltd.io and www.dgxlimited.com;

WHEREAS the activity carried out through the website www.dgxlimited.io constitutes the provision of investment services as referred to in art. 1, paragraph 5, of the Consolidated Law on Finance, insofar as clients are offered the opportunity of opening a trading account against which purchase and/or sale orders for financial instruments can be issued;

WHEREAS the aforementioned activity, carried out through the website www.dgxlimited.io, is still ongoing and are directed at Italian investors, given that the website is available also in Italian; regarding the same website there have also been reports of unsolicited telephone calls ("cold calling") towards the Italian public; moreover within the website www.dgxlimited.io a telephone number with an Italian country code specifically dedicated to Italy was also found;

WHEREAS Digital Exchange Limited and Securex Plus Solutions EOOD, both mentioned on the website, are not authorised to provide investment services to the Italian public, insofar as they are not enrolled on the register maintained by CONSOB pursuant to article 20 of the Consolidated Law on Finance;

HAVING REGARD TO the fact that the provision of investment services and activities is reserved to licensed parties as referred to under article 18, paragraph 1, of the Consolidated Law on Finance, pursuant to which "The professional provision of investment services and activities to the public is reserved to Stock brokerage firms, EU investment firms, Italian banks, EU banks and non-EU firms";

HAVING ESTABLISHED, therefore, that the operations in question qualify as the professional provision of investment services to the Italian public, in infringement of art. 18, paragraph 1 of the Consolidated Law on Finance;

HAVING REGARD TO the provisions of article 7-octies, letter b) of the Consolidated Law on Finance - "Powers to counteract abusive practices" - pursuant to which CONSOB "may, with regard to anyone who offers or carries out investment services or activities over the Internet without being qualified to do so pursuant to this decree: […] b) order the cessation of the infringement";

CONSIDERING it therefore necessary, in the light of the foregoing, to adopt this Resolution immediately for reasons of urgency;

RESOLVES:

To order the cessation of the infringement of article 18 of Legislative Decree no. 58/98 carried out through the website www.dgxlimited.io, which constitutes the provision of investment services and activities to the Italian public.

This Resolution shall be brought to the attention of the concerned parties and published in the Consob Bulletin.

This measure may be appealed before the Regional Administrative Court of Lazio within 60 days of the date of service.

26 May 2021

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona