Resolution no. 20720

Order, pursuant to art. 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.originalcrypto.com website

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 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.originalcrypto.com website, it emerged that:

i. although the website is written in English, the reserved area, access to which requires user registration, includes a trading platform that is also available in Italian;

ii. there are no mechanisms in place to block website access and registration for residents in Italy;

iii. potential investors, subject to prior registration and the opening of an account using a dedicated online form, are able to access a reserved area of the website, which includes a trading platform, available in Italian, through which they can trade in a variety of assets, including ‘Stocks, Commodities, Indices, Currencies and much more’;

iv. in order to carry out trading transactions, an investment of money is required, to be paid into the account opened online; at the bottom of every page of the website and in the ‘Terms & Conditions’ section, it is specified that ‘The website is owned and operated by SolutionsCM Ltd’ and details are give of the company SolutionsCM Ltd with alleged registered address in Bulgaria.

HAVING CONSIDERED that the activity carried out via the said website can be classed as the provision of investment services as referred to in art. 1, para. 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;

HAVING CONSIDERED that the operations identified are also directed towards investors resident in Italy who are contacted by telephone and invited to open trading accounts on the aforementioned website;

HAVING ESTABLISHED that the parties mentioned on the website are not authorised to provide investment services to the Italian public, insofar as they are not registered on the dedicated register held by CONSOB pursuant to art. 20 of the Consolidated Law on Finance,

HAVING REGARD to the fact that the provision of investment services and activities is reserved for the qualified subjects referred to in Art. 18, para. 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 and banks’;

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

HAVING REGARD TO the fact that, according to 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 therefore pursuant to this decree: make public, even by way of a precaution, the fact that the party is not authorised to perform the activity indicated under article 1, paragraph 5; b) order that the infringement be discontinued’;

HEREBY RESOLVES:

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

This Resolution shall be brought to the attention of those concerned and published in CONSOB’s Bulletin.

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

November 28, 2018

THE DEPUTY CHAIRMAN
Anna Genovese