Resolution no. 23457

Order, pursuant to Article 94(1)(h) of Regulation (EU) 2023/1114 ("MiCAR") and Article 4(1) of Italian Legislative Decree no. 129/2024 to cease the infringement of Article 59 of the MiCAR carried out through the website https://m.htxcoin-az.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, as subsequently amended and supplemented;

HAVING REGARD TO Regulation (EU) 2023/1114 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 31 May 2023 on markets in crypto-asset ("MiCAR");

HAVING REGARD TO Legislative Decree no. 129 of 5 September 2024;

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. through thehttps://m.htxcoin-az.com website, which is active, available in Italian and registered anonymously, potential investors are offered the opportunity to place orders to buy and/or sell crypto-assets;

ii. the home page of the website in question contains references to a "Better, faster and stronger cryptocurrency exchange", which can be accessed after registering and opening an account;

iii. once the registration procedure on the https://mZhtxcoin-az.com website is completed, the user accesses the reserved area, available in Italian, where functions are available dedicated to the buying and /or selling of crypto-assets and depositing of liquidity (so-called "top-up") on their account, also through a "bank card";

iv. regarding traceability, the website https://mZhtxcoin-az.com has generic references to an entity called "Htxcoin-az".

WHEREAS the activity carried out through the https://m.htxcoin-az.com website entails the provision of crypto-asset services, as referred to in Article 3(1)(16) of the MiCAR, insofar as users are offered the possibility, through said domain, to open an account/access a platform to place orders to buy and/or sell crypto-assets;

WHEREAS the above activity is still ongoing and is aimed at Italian investors, insofar as the https://m.htxcoin-az.com website is available in Italian and, with regard to its operation, no mechanism has been found to limit or block registration on the https://m.htxcoin-az.com website by users who try to register from Italy through Italian IP addresses, there have been reports of cold calls being made to Italian customers, and complaints have been received from Italian retail investors who reported that they were unable to recover the invested amounts;

WHEREAS the website https://m.htxcoin-az.com is not attributable to any entity referred to in Article 45 (1) of Italian Legislative Decree no. 129/2024 - entitled "Transitional regime" - pursuant to which "Legal entities that, on 27 December 2024, are duly registered in the special section of the register referred to in Article 17-bis(1) of Legislative Decree no. 141 of 13 August 2010, in accordance with the provisions of paragraphs 8-bis and 8-ter of the same article, which submit an application for authorisation pursuant to Article 62 of Regulation (EU) 2023/1114, may continue to provide services relating to the use of virtual currencies or digital wallets by 30 June 2025, pursuant to the regulations laid down in the same provisions and the related implementing provisions, until 30 December 2025 or until the issuance or refusal of an authorisation pursuant to Article 63 of Regulation (EU) 2023/1114, whichever is the earlier";

WHEREAS the website https://m-htxcoin-az.com cannot be attributed to any entity authorised to provide crypto-asset services to the Italian public;

HAVING REGARD to the fact that the provision of crypto-assets services is reserved to the authorised entities referred to in Article 59(1)(a) and (b) of the MiCAR pursuant to which "A person shall not provide crypto-asset services, within the Union, unless that person is: (a) a legal person or other undertaking that has been authorised as crypto-asset service provider in accordance with Article 63; or (b) a credit institution, central securities depository, investment firm, market operator, electronic money institution, UCITS management company, or an alternative investment fund manager that is allowed to provide crypto-asset services pursuant to Article 60";

HAVING ESTABLISHED, therefore, that the activities in question qualify as the professional provision of crypto-asset services to the Italian public, in breach of Article 59 of the Consolidated Law on Finance;

HAVING REGARD TO the provisions of Article 4(1) of Legislative Decree no. 129/2024 "In order to fulfil the duties provided for in Regulation (EU) 2023/1114, the delegated acts and technical standards for the regulation and implementation of the said regulation as well as this decree and its implementing provisions, the Bank of Italy and Consob, according to their respective areas of competence, have the powers provided for in Article 94(1) of Regulation (EU) 2023/1114";

HAVING REGARD to the fact that, pursuant to the provisions of Article 94(1)(h) of the MiCAR – entitled "Powers of competent authorities" – "where there is a reason to assume that a person is providing crypto-asset services without authorisation" the competent authorities, in accordance with national law, shall have the power "to order the immediate cessation of the activity without prior warning or imposition of a deadline";

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 59 of the MiCAR performed through the website https://m.htxcoin-az.com consisting of the provision of crypto-asset services to the Italian public.

This Resolution shall be disclosed to the parties concerned with publication in the Consob Bulletin.

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

4 March 2025

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona