Resolution no. 21130

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 performed through the website https://ccxcrypto.com

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, from checks on the website https://ccxcrypto.com, it emerged that:

i. the website https://ccxcrypto.com is active and also partially available in Italian;

ii. subject to registration, the procedure for which is available in Italian, the website https://ccxcrypto.com offers the possibility of trading forex, shares and CFDs with cryptocurrencies and indices and commodities as underlying assets;

iii. in order to perform trading transactions a cash investment must be made, paying sums into an account opened on line; specifically, there are three types of account, named “Basic”, “Pro” and “VIP”, depending on the deposit required and the benefits promised;

iv. A footnote on all the pages of this website states that it “is owned and operated by Bonatech Ltd […] and Mitchell Group Eood […]” with stated addresses in the Marshall Islands and Bulgaria, respectively.

HAVING CONSIDERED that the activity carried out through this website can be classed as the provision of investment services as referred to in art. 1, paragraph 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 aforementioned operations, performed through the website https://ccxcrypto.com, are still ongoing and are aimed at Italian investors, insofar as the website is also available in Italian and that there have also been reports of cold calling of Italian subjects;

HAVING CONSIDERED that the Bonatech Ltd and Mitchell Group Eood companies mentioned on the website are not authorised to provide investment services to the Italian public, since they do not appear 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 authorised entities as referred to under art. 18, paragraph 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 to the Italian public, in infringement of art. 18, paragraph 1 of the Consolidated Law on Finance;

HAVING REGARD TO the fact that, according to the provisions of art. 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 over the Internet without being qualified therefore pursuant to this decree: […] b) order the cessation of the infringement';

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 art. 18 of Legislative Decree no. 58/98 performed through the website https://ccxcrypto.com, consisting in 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.

October 31^st, 2019

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona