Resolution no. 22124

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 https://bitcoinera.app and https://absystem.worl 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 https://bitcoinera.app address corresponds to a single webpage, which is available in Italian and concerns the promotion of investment opportunities in cryptocurrencies, where a registration form is present that interested users are invited to fill in by entering their personal data such as name, surname and e-mail address;

ii. once the registration procedure has been completed by filling in the form available on the aforementioned https://bitcoinera.app webpage, the user is routed to the separate https://absystem.world website, through which, after registering and opening an account, they are offered the opportunity to trade financial instruments such as CFDs on currencies, shares, commodities and indices;

iii. as for traceability of the aforementioned activities, the https://bitcoinera.app address generically mentions "Bitcoin Era", without any indication of a well-defined legal entity; with reference to the https://absystem.world website it mentions the "Absystem" brand and, on the "Terms & Conditions" page, it contains an address in the Commonwealth of Dominica and an e-mail address specifically dedicated to Italian users;

WHEREAS the activity carried out through the https://bitcoinera.app and https://absystem.world 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 https://bitcoinera.app domain that can be linked to distance marketing of investment services, insofar as through the said domain users are invited, including with the prospect of economic returns, to open an account to carry out trading transactions on the separate https://absystem.world website to which users are routed after completing the registration procedure;

WHEREAS likewise the activity carried out through the https://bitcoinera.app domain 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 https://absystem.world 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 transactions, carried out through the https://bitcoinera.app and https://absystem.world domains is still ongoing and is aimed at Italian investors, insofar as the https://bitcoinera.app domain is available in Italian and an email box specifically targeted at Italian users has been found on the https://absystem.world website;

WHEREAS both 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 https://bitcoinera.app and https://absystem.world domains, consisting in the offering and 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.

16 December 2021

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona