Resolution no. 22646

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 website https://crystalscapitals.com and the respective webpage https://platform.crystalscapitals.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 supplements;

HAVING REGARD TO Legislative Decree no. 58 of 24th February 1998 ("Consolidated Law on Finance") and subsequent amendments and supplements;

HAVING ESTABLISHED that, from checks on the web, it emerged that:

1. the website https://crystalscapitals.com offers potential investors the opportunity to trade options and shares through a platform available at the web page https://platform.crystalscapitals.com belonging to the website https://crystalscapitals.com;
2. in order to place such trades, users must register with the website https://crystalscapitals.com via a process that is also available for Italian users, and subsequently open an account and deposit relevant funds;
3. in particular, the website https://crystalscapitals.com advertises six types of account, referred to as "Student", "Standard", "Islamic", "Investor", "CrystalsCapitals VIP" and "CrystalsCapitals VIP Platinum", depending on the minimum deposit required and the benefits promised;
4. as to traceability, the footer of the website https://crystalscapitals.com makes references to Shadlake LTD, with registered address in Bulgaria;

WHEREAS the activity carried out through the website https://crystalscapitals.com and the respective page https://platform.crystalscapitals.com is deemed to constitute the provision of investment services, as referred to in article 1, paragraph 5, of the Consolidated Law on Finance, insofar as users are offered the opportunity through the aforementioned domains to open a trading account and place orders to buy and/or sell financial instruments;

WHEREAS such activity, carried out through the website https://crystalscapitals.com and the respective page https://platform.crystalscapitals.com, is still ongoing and is aimed at Italian investors, given that the website https://crystalscapitals.com is also available in Italian and that there have been reports of cold calls being made to retail investors in Italy regarding the initiatives promoted by the same website https://crystalscapitals.com. In addition, no mechanism was found on the website https://crystalscapitals.com aimed at preventing registration by users who attempt to subscribe to the said domain from Italy/through Italian IP addresses and complaints have also been received from Italian savers in relation to the initiatives promoted through the website https://crystalscapitals.com;

WHEREAS Shadlake LTD, with registered office in Bulgaria, as mentioned on the website https://crystalscapitals.com, is not authorised to provide investment services to the Italian public, since it is not listed on the register kept by Consob pursuant to Article 20 of the Consolidated Law on Finance;

HAVING REGARD to the fact that the provision of investment services and activities is reserved to licensed parties as referred to under 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 art. 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 unauthorised provision of investment services" - Consob "may, with regard to anyone who offers or carries out investment services or activities over the Internet without being qualified to do so 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 article 18 of Legislative Decree no. 58/98 carried out through the website https://crystalscapitals.com and the respective webpage https://platform.crystalscapitals.com, constituted by offering and providing investment services and activities to the Italian public.

This Resolution shall be brought to the attention of the all the concerned parties and published in the Consob Bulletin.

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

22 March 2023

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona