Resolution no. 22612

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://capitalbiz.ltd and the page https://webtrader.c-base.co

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:

1. the website https://capitalbiz.ltd, which is active, registered anonymously and also available in Italian, offers users the opportunity, after registering and opening an account, to trade forex instruments, commodities, indices, digital currencies and shares through a trading platform;
2. five types of account are offered on the website, named “Bronze”, “Silver”, “Gold”, “Platinum” and “Diamond”, depending on the minimum deposit required and the benefits promised;
3. the URL https://webtrader.c-base.co allows you to reach the web page which hosts the access form to the reserved area of the website, which in turn contains the trading platform;
4. as regards the traceability of the site https://capitalbiz.ltd, the footers of the website states that “This website is owned and operated by Evolve Consulting LLC, company registration number 2352 LLC and registered address First Floor St.Vincent Bank Ltd Building James Street Kingstown St.Vincent and Grenadines”;

HAVING REGARD TO Resolution no. 22539 of 6.12.2022, whereby EVOLVE CONSULTING LLC, with stated registered office in “First Floor St. Vincent Bank Ltd Building, James Street, Kingstown St. Vincent and the Grenadines” was ordered to cease its infringement of article 18 of the Consolidated Law on Finance conducted through the separate websites https://capitalbiz.io and https://capitalbase.io and the page https://webtrader.c-base.cc;

WHEREAS, in addition to using a web domain that is partially similar to the domain of the website https://capitalbiz.io contained in the aforementioned Resolution no. 22539, the website https://capitalbiz.ltd has similar structure and content to the aforementioned website https://capitalbiz.io;

WHEREAS the activity carried out through the website https://capitalbiz.ltd and the page https://webtrader.c-base.co 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 activity carried out through the aforementioned website and the respective page are 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 aforementioned activity, carried out through the website https://capitalbiz.ltd and the page https://webtrader.c-base.co, is ongoing and is aimed at Italian investors, given that the website may be consulted in Italian, and complaints have also been received from Italians, and in one case a report of cold calling of an Italian retail investor was filed. Furthermore, no mechanism was found aimed at blocking registration by users attempting to register with the website from Italy via Italian IP addresses;

WHEREAS “Evolve Consulting LLC”, mentioned on the 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 unauthorised provision of investment services” - Consob “may, with regard to anyone who offers or carries out investment services or activities over 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 article 18 of Legislative Decree no. 58/98 carried out through the website https://capitalbiz.ltd and the relevant page https://webtrader.c-base.co, 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 all 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.

1^st March 2023

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona