Resolution no. 22166

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 through the website https://platinex.io

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 and subsequent amendments and supplements;

HAVING REGARD TO Legislative Decree no. 58 of 24 February 1998 (“Consolidated Law on Finance”) and subsequent amendments and supplements;

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

i. the https://platinex.io website is composed of the sections “About us”, “Invest”, “Platforms”, “Accounts”, “Tools”and“Support”, and offers the opportunity – after opening an account - of trading on the forex market and tradingCFDs, indices, shares and commodities;

ii. in order to place such trades, users must register with the https://platinex.io website through a procedure that is also available to Italian users and allows access to the private personal area, which is also available in the Italian language version and where several features are available, including a special function for depositing funds in the trading account;

iii. three types of account are indicated on the website referred to as“Standard”, “Pro”and “Expert”depending on the minimum deposit required and the benefits promised;

iv. as to the traceability of the websitehttps://platinex.io, at the bottom of the pages of such website references are made to “Lithe Group LTD” and the document“Terms and Conditions” states that “Lithe Group LTD is a trading company whose registered office is 8 Copthall, Roseau Valley, 00152 Commonwealth of Dominica with registration number: 2021/IBC00011)”. The website also contains an e-mail address support@platinex.io;

HAVING REGARD TO Resolution no. 22010 of 22 September 2021, whereby “Lithe Group Ltd” with its alleged registered address at Copthall, Roseau Valley, Commonwealth of Dominica, was ordered to cease its infringement of article 18 of the Consolidated Law on Finance conducted through the separate https://platinex.co domain and its respective https://client.platinex.co/dashboard webpage;

HAVING REGARD TO Resolution no. 22149 of 22 September 2021, whereby “Lithe Group Ltd” with its alleged registered address at Copthall, Roseau Valley, Commonwealth of Dominica, was ordered to cease its infringement of article 18 of the Consolidated Law on Finance conducted through the separate https://platinex.cc domain;

WHEREAS, in addition to using an address that is partially superimposable on that of the aforementioned domains, the https://platinex.io website has similar structure and contents to those of the https://platinex.co and https://platinex.cc sites;

WHEREAS the activity carried out through the https://platinex.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 the aforesaid domain, to open a trading account where they can place orders to buy and/or sell financial instruments;

WHEREAS the aforementioned transactions, carried out through the https://platinex.io website, are still ongoing and are aimed at Italian investors, given that the private personal area of the website is also available in Italian, and moreover there have been reports of cold calls being made to retail investors in Italy;

WHEREAS “Lithe Group LTD”, mentioned on this website, is not authorised to provide investment services to the Italian public, since it does not appear on the dedicated register held by Consob pursuant to art. 20 of the Consolidated Law on Finance;

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 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, letter b) of the Consolidated Law on Finance - “Powers to counteract abuse” - 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 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 art. 18 of Legislative Decree no. 58/98 performed through the websitehttps://platinex.io, consisting in the 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 January 2022

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona