Resolution no. 22809

Order, pursuant to article 7-octies, paragraph 1, letter b) of Legislative Decree no. 58/1998 ("Consolidated Law on Finance") to cease the breach of article 18 of the Consolidated Law on Finance carried out via the https://bitbinx.ltd website and the https://trade.bitbinx.ltd related page

LA COMMISSIONE NAZIONALE PER LE SOCIETÀ E LA BORSA

HAVING REGARD to Law no. 216 of 7 June 1974, as subsequently amended and supplemented;

HAVING REGARD to Legislative Decree no. 58 of 24 February 1998 ("Consolidated Law on Finance"), as subsequently amended and supplemented;

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

i. the https://bitbinx.ltd website, which is active and also available in Italian, offers potential investors the possibility to trade forex instruments and CFDs relating to shares and commodities;

ii. in order to carry out the aforementioned trading operations, it is necessary to register on the https://bitbinx.ltd website, access the restricted area of the website from https://trade.bitbinx.ltd and open a trading account; in particular, the website mentions six types of accounts based on the minimum deposit required and the benefits offered, ‘Opening’, ‘Horizon’, ‘Heritage’, ‘Fortune’, ‘Great Fortune’, and ‘Infinite’;

iii. The website https://bitbinx.ltd contains generic references to "Bitbinx.ltd" with stated headquarters in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and the email addresses "support@bitbinx.ltd" and "compliance@bitbinx.ltd".

HAVING REGARD to Consob Resolution no. 22762 of 28 June 2023, which ordered the cessation of the breach of article 18 of the Consolidated Law on Finance conducted via the separate https://bitbinx.com website and the related https://trade.bitbinx.com webpage, which have a similar content and graphic format to the https://bitbinx.ltd website and the related https://trade.bitbinx.ltd webpage;

WHEREAS the activity carried out via the https://bitbinx.ltd website and the related https://trade.bitbinx.ltd webpage constitutes 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 via the aforementioned domains to open a trading account and place orders to buy and/or sell financial instruments;

WHEREAS the above-mentioned activities are still ongoing and are aimed at Italian investors, insofar as the https://bitbinx.ltd website is also available in Italian, in relation to the operation of the same, contact activities of platform "Bitbinx" operators with Italian investors have reported and complaints have been received from Italian retail investors who have complained about the impossibility to obtain the refund of the sums used to operate via the online trading platform "Bitbinx";

WHEREAS the https://bitbinx.ltd website and the related https://trade.bitbinx.ltd page may not be attributed to any entity authorised to provide investment services to the Italian public;

HAVING REGARD to the fact that the provision of investment services and activities is reserved to authorised parties pursuant to article 18, paragraph 1 of the Consolidated Law on Finance, which provides that "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 breach of article 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 breach";

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 breach of article 18 of Legislative Decree no. 58/98 conducted via the https://bitbinx.ltd website and the related https://trade.bitbinx.ltd webpage, consisting in offering and providing investment services and activities to the Italian public.

This Resolution shall be brought to the attention of the concerned parties and 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.

20 September 2023

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona