Resolution no. 23472

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 via the www.guru4invest.com website and the https://platform.pltf-tchg.io page

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

HAVING ESTABLISHED that, from the checks carried out, it emerged that:

i. through the website www.guru4invest.com, which is active and also available in Italian through automatic translation systems and registered anonymously, the potential investor is offered the opportunity to trade in CFDs, cryptocurrencies, shares, indices, commodities, and currencies via a trading platform, subject to registration and account opening; in this regard, the website presents seven types of accounts named "Standard", "Bronze", "Silver", "Gold", "Platinum", "Pro", and "VIP", which differ, among other things, in the minimum deposit required;

ii. after registration, users can access the reserved area of the website available at the address https://platform.pltf-tchg.io, where it is possible to make deposits on the trading account;

iii. regarding the legal entity to which the site can be traced, it is noted that within the same there are generic references to "Guru4Invest" and the e-mail addresses support@guru4invest.expert and info@guru4invest.team are indicated;

WHEREAS the activity carried out via the website www.guru4invest.com and the page https://platform.pltf-tchg.io 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 possibility through the aforementioned domains to open a trading account on which it is possible to issue purchase and/or sale orders relating to financial instruments;

WHEREAS the above-described operations, conducted through the website www.guru4invest.com and the page https://platform.pltf-tchg.io are still ongoing and aimed at the Italian investor public, as the site has been found to be active, accessible also in Italian through automatic translation systems, interaction with Italian clients has been reported through remote communication techniques, the absence of mechanisms to limit or prevent registration by users attempting to register from Italy using Italian IP addresses has been noted, and complaints have been received from Italian individuals who have reported the inability to recover the funds invested;

WHEREAS such activity carried out through the website www.guru4invest.com and the page https://platform.pltf-tchg.io cannot be attributed to any entity that is 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 licensed parties as referred to under article 18, paragraph 1, of the Consolidated Law on Finance, pursuant to which "The commercial 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 article 18, paragraph 1 of the Consolidated Law on Finance;

HAVING REGARD to the fact that, according to the provisions of Article 7-octies, paragraph 1, 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 through the Internet without being qualified pursuant to this decree: […] b) order that such infringement must cease";

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 www.guru4invest.com and the page https://platform.pltf-tchg.io, which constitutes the offer and provision of 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.

12 March 2025

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona