Resolution no. 22123

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 www.bitcoinera.com, www.cryptorobot.com and www.sagatrade.io websites

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, from checks on the website, it emerged that:

i. the www.bitcoinera.com domain, which is also available in Italian, encourages transactions involving cryptocurrencies and contains a form for registering interested users;

ii. once the registration procedure has been completed by filling in the form available on the aforementioned www.bitcoinera.com domain, users are routed, including by means of automatic redirection procedures, to the separate www.sagatrade.io website;

iii. the www.cryptorobot.com domain promotes automated trading software and hosts a form for registering interested users;

iv. once the registration procedure has been completed by filling in the form available on the aforementioned www.cryptorobot.com domain, users are routed, including by means of automatic redirection procedures, to the aforementioned www.sagatrade.io website

v. the www.sagatrade.io website, which is active and available in Italian, offers users the opportunity to trade financial instruments such as CFDs on currencies and cryptocurrencies, after registering and opening an account;

vi. as to the traceability of the aforementioned activities, no references to legal entities to which they are assigned have been found within the aforementioned internet domains;

WHEREAS the activity carried out through the www.bitcoinera.com, www.cryptorobot.com and www.sagatrade.io domains can be classed as the offering and provision of investment services as referred to in article 1, paragraph 5, of the Consolidated Law on Finance;

WHEREAS an activity is being carried out through the www.bitcoinera.com and www.cryptorobot.com domains that can be classed as distance marketing of third party investment services, since users are invited, through these sites, to open an account to carry out trading transactions on the separate www.sagatrade.io website to which users are routed after completing the registration procedure;

WHEREAS likewise the activity carried out through the www.bitcoinera.com and www.cryptorobot.com domains can be classed as distance marketing of investment services, an activity reserved to intermediaries authorised pursuant to article 18 to provide investment placement services;

WHEREAS the activity carried out through the separate www.sagatrade.io domain is deemed to constitute the provision of investment services, given that users are offered the opportunity through the aforesaid domain to open a trading account where they can place buy and/or sell orders on financial instruments;

WHEREAS the aforementioned activity, carried out through the www.bitcoinera.com, www.cryptorobot.com and www.sagatrade.io domains, is still ongoing and is aimed at Italian investors, since starting from the www.bitcoinera.com and www.cryptorobot.com domains users are routed, including through automatic rerouting procedures, to the separate www.sagatrade.io website which is also available in Italian;

WHEREAS the transactions on the aforesaid domains cannot be attributed to any entity authorised to provide investment services to the Italian public;

HAVING REGARD TO the requirement to hold a relevant licence in order to provide investment services, as per 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 Italian Investment 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 article 18, paragraph 1 of the Consolidated Law on Finance;

HAVING REGARD TO the fact that, according to the provisions of article 7-octies, letter b) of the Consolidated Law on Finance - "Powers to counteract abuse" - Consob "may, with regard to anyone who offers or carries out investment services or activities through the Internet without being qualified pursuant to this decree: […] b) order that the infringement cease";

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 58/1998 carried out through the www.bitcoinera.com, www.cryptorobot.com and www.sagatrade.io internet domains, consisting in the offering and provision of investment services and activities to the Italian public.

This resolution will be published in the Consob Bulletin.

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

16 December 2021

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona