Resolution no. 20928

Order, pursuant to Article 7-octies, paragraph 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.mycrypto-invest.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 7 June 1974, and subsequent amendments and additions;

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

HAVING ESTABLISHED that checks on the www. mycrypto-invest.com website showed that:

i. the www.mycrypto-invest.com website is also available in Italian;

ii. the www.mycrypto-invest.com website, registered anonymously, offers users, subject to opening an account and paying into it the relative sum of money, the opportunity of trading in CFDs having cryptocurrencies as their underlying assets;

iii. in order to carry out trading transactions, an investment of money is required, to be paid into the account opened online;

iv. the ‘Terms & Conditions’ section of the www.mycrypto-invest.com website states that ‘MYCrypto Invest is the trading name of Partner Communication Ltd’ with alleged office in London;

v. the ‘Contact Us’ section of the website displays the following email address: ‘contact@mycrypto-invest.com’.

HAVING CONSIDERED that the activity at issue - still performed thorough the aforementioned website - qualifies 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 above described operations is also aimed at the Italian investing public insofar as: (a) the said website is also available in Italian; (b) the contractual and information documents received by potential investors, and according to which MyCrypto-Invest is attributable to the Fintech Horizons Limited company with registered address in London, are in Italian; c) according to reports received, cold calling was carried out aimed at users residing in Italy;

HAVING CONSIDERED that the said website cannot be attributed to any entity authorised to provide investment services to the Italian public, insofar neither Fintech Horizons Limited nor Partner Communication Ltd are found in the 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 authorised entities as referred to under 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, therefore, that the operations in question qualify 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: a) make public, even by way of a precaution, the circumstance that the party is not authorised to carry out the activity indicated by article 1, paragraph 5; 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;

HEREBY RESOLVES:

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

This Resolution shall be brought to the attention of those whom it concerns and will be 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.

May 8, 2019

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona