Resolution no. 23476

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 www.monetizeer.top 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. potential investors are offered the opportunity, through the www.monetizeer.top website – which is active, also available in Italian and registered anonymously – to trade CFDs on currencies, shares, indices and commodities, via a trading platform;

ii. in order to place trading transactions, users must register with the above-mentioned website, through a process that is also available to users connecting from Italy, and open a trading account; specifically, four different types of account are advertised on the website ("Argento" (Silver), "Oro" (Gold), "Platino" (Platinum) and "Diamante" (Diamond)), which differ, moreover, according to the minimum deposit;

iii. as to the traceability of the aforementioned operations, the website www.monetizeer.top refers to "Monteizeer" with its alleged registered office in London and the email address support@monetizeer.top is provided;

WHEREAS the activity carried out through the website www.monetizeer.top constitutes the provision of investment services within the meaning of article 1, paragraph 5, of the Consolidated Law on Finance, given that users are offered the opportunity to open a trading account and place buy and/or sell orders on financial instruments;

WHEREAS the above activity, carried out via the website www.monetizeer.top, is still ongoing and is aimed at Italian investors, given that the website is available in Italian and that no mechanism was found to limit or block registration by users attempting to register with the website from Italy through Italian IP addresses; in relation to said website, interaction with Italian customers was reported and complaints were received from Italian subjects;

WHEREAS the website www.monetizeer.top cannot 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 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 breach of article 18 of Legislative Decree no. 58/98 carried out via the www.monetizeer.top website, constituted by 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.

19 March 2025

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona