Resolution no. 23359

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://gotradetech.com website and its related pages https://panel.gotradetech.com and https://trading.gotradetech.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 Legislative Decree no. 58 of 24 February 1998 ("Consolidated Law on Finance"), as subsequently amended and supplemented;

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

i. potential investors are offered the possibility through the website https://gotradetech.com, which is active and registered anonymously, to trade shares, ETFs on indices, commodities and currencies, options and futures on indices, cryptocurrencies, currencies, interest rates and commodities;

ii. to place such trades, users must register with the website https://gotradetech.com, via a procedure available on the page https://panel.gotradetech.com, open an account and access the trading platform available on the additional page https://trading.gotradetech.com;

iii regarding traceability, the website https://gotradetech.com contains generic references to "Go Trade Tech", which do not include references to a possible registered office or other telephone or e-mail addresses.

WHEREAS the activity carried out via the https://gotradetech.com website and its related pages https://panel.gotradetech.com and https://trading.gotradetech.com constitutes the provision of investment services, as referred to in Article 1, paragraph 5 of the Consolidated Law on Finance, since 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 activity described above, carried out via the website https://gotradetech.com and its related pages https://panel.gotradetech.com and https://trading.gotradetech.com, is still ongoing and is aimed at Italian investors, given that the website's activity https://gotradetech.com has been the subject of an advertising campaign aimed at the Italian public and conducted via the domain, https://meloniprogettodaiuto.com, also through the use of undue references to Italian public figures. In relation to the same website https://gotradetech.com, interactions have also been reported through remote communication techniques with Italian retail investors and evidence has been obtained of contractual documentation in Italian prepared by "Go Trade Tech" aimed at encouraging retail investors to subscribe to "Go Trade Tech" initiatives; it was also found that the website https://gotradetech.com had no mechanisms aimed at preventing registration by users attempting to register with the same website from Italy through Italian IP addresses, and a complaint was received from an Italian retail investor who complained that it was impossible to obtain a refund of the amounts used to trade via the websitehttps://gotradetech.com;

WHEREAS the transactions recorded on the https://gotradetech.com website and its related pages https://panel.gotradetech.com and https://trading.gotradetech.com pages are not 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 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 activities 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 provisions of Article 7-octies, paragraph 1, letter b) of the Consolidated Law on Finance - "Powers to counteract unauthorised provision of investment services" - pursuant to which 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 that the infringement 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 https://gotradetech.com website and its https://panel.gotradetech.com and https://trading.gotradetech.com pages constituted by the offer and provision of investment services and activities to the Italian public.

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

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

10 December 2024

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona