Resolution no. 23453

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 committed via the https://capitalgates.io website

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 web, it emerged that:

i. the https://capitalgates.io website - which is active, also available in Italian and registered anonymously - offers potential investors the possibility to trade ETFs and CFDs relating to cryptocurrencies;

ii. in order to place such trades, users must register with the https://capitalgates.io website, via a procedure that is also available to Italian users, open an account and access the trading platform;

iii. in particular, five types of account are listed on the https://capitalgates.io website, referred to as "Basic", "Silver", "Gold", "Platinum" and "Diamond", depending on the minimum deposit required and the benefits promised;

iv. as to traceability, the website https://capitalgates.io contains generic references to "Capitalgates", with an email address (support@capitalgates.cc) provided;

WHEREAS the activity carried out via the https://capitalgates.io website is deemed to constitute the provision of investment services pursuant to article 1, paragraph 5, of the Consolidated Law on Finance, given that users are offered the opportunity through said domain to open a trading account and place orders to buy and/or sell financial instruments;

WHEREAS the above described activity, carried out via the https://capitalgates.io website, is still ongoing and is aimed at Italian investors, given that the https://capitalgates.io website is also available in Italian and in relation to the same website https://capitalgates.io, reports have also been received of contact being made with Italian retail investors using cold calling. Furthermore, it was ascertained that there are no mechanisms aimed at preventing or limiting registration by users who attempt to register with the website https://capitalgates.io from Italy through Italian IP addresses and complaints have been received from Italian retail investors who claimed that they were unable to get their money back to trade on the website https://capitalgates.io;

WHEREAS the transactions recorded on the website https://capitalgates.io 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, 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 breach of article 18 of Legislative Decree no. 58/98 carried out via the https://capitalgates.io website, 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.

4 March 2025

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona