Resolution no. 20381

Order, pursuant to Article 7-octies, Par. 1, Letter b) of Legislative Decree no. 58/1998 ('Consolidated Law on Finance') to discontinue the infringement of Article 18 of the Consolidated Law on Finance performed through the www.royalcripto.com website

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

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

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

HAVING ESTABLISHED that, from checks on the www.royalcripto.com, website, it emerged that:

i. the www.royalcripto.com website is also available in Italian so that, when users select the Italian language option of the said website, they are directed to the www.royalcripto.com/it URL;

ii. at the bottom of all pages of this website, an Italian telephone number is displayed, which has been found to be currently active;

iii. potential investors, subject to registration on this website and the opening of an account, are offered, inter alia, the opportunity to trade online in contracts for cryptocurrencies, traditional currencies, commodities and indexes; an account management service ('Managed Account') is also offered, with the promise 'Up to 38% Monthly Return on Investment';

HAVING CONSIDERED that the above described operations carried out via the www.royalcripto.com, website are directed towards the Italian investing public, given that the aforementioned website is also available in Italian and has no blocking mechanism in place to prevent Italian users from registering;

HAVING ESTABLISHED that, according to the information available, individuals operating on behalf of www.royalcripto.com contacted Italian investors to persuade them to invest money through the said website;

HAVING ESTABLISHED that the activities carried out via the aforementioned website can be classed as the provision of investment services referred to in Art. 1, Par. 5 of the Consolidated Law on Finance, since clients are given the opportunity to access a platform by means of which they can trade in financial instruments;

HAVING CONSIDERED that the provision of investment services and activities is reserved for authorised entities as referred to under Article 18, Par. 1 of the Consolidated Law on Finance, pursuant to which 'The professional provision of investment services and activities for the public is reserved for investment firms, EU investment companies, Italian banks, EU banks and third country companies';

HAVING NOTED THAT, at the bottom of the pages of the www.royalcripto.com website, it is stated that the website is managed by Royal Forex Ltd, a company regulated and authorised by the CYSEC; this statement also includes the company's licence number and the start date of its activities;

HAVING ESTABLISHED THAT Royal Forex Ltd, with registered office in Cyprus - authorised by the CYSEC to provide investment services and registered on the register of EU investment companies without branches authorised to provide investment services in Italy - is actually included in the list available on CYSEC's website, with a licence number, domain and contact details different from that displayed on the www.royalcripto.com website;

HAVING ESTABLISHED the aforementioned Royal Forex Ltd, duly authorised by the CYSEC, has no involvement with the www.royalcripto.com website nor with the company that manages it;

HAVING ESTABLISHED that the 'Terms and Conditions' section of the www.royalcripto.com website makes reference to 'Royalcrypto.com International', for which an address is indicated in Romania, as well as one in the United Kingdom;

HAVING ESTABLISHED that the www.royalcripto.com website is found not to be attributable to any of the parties authorised to professionally provide investment services to the Italian public listed on the register kept by CONSOB, pursuant to Art. 20 of the Consolidated Law on Finance, of EU and non-EU investment firms and companies authorised to operate in Italy under the freedom to provide investment services directly and/or via branches in Italy;

HAVING ESTABLISHED that the operations in question are configured as the professional provision of investment services involving financial instruments to the Italian public in infringement of Art. 18, Par. 1 of the Consolidated Law on Finance;

HAVING CONSIDERED that, according to that outlined under Art. 7-octies 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 therefor pursuant to this decree: a) make public, even by way of a precaution, the fact that the party is not authorised to carry out the activity indicated under Article 1, Paragraph 5; b) order the discontinuation of the infringement;

HEREBY RESOLVES:

The order is issued to discontinue the infringement of Art .18 of Legislative Decree no. 58/1998 performed including via the www.royalcripto.com, website, consisting of the provision of investment services and activities to the Italian public.

This Resolution shall be notified to those concerned and published in the CONSOB Bulletin.

Appeals against this measure may be presented to the Regional Administrative Court of Lazio within 60 days from the date of notification.

13 April 2018

THE DEPUTY CHAIRMAN
Anna Genovese