Resolution no. 22901

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 via the website https://btxplus.io and its pages https://client.btxplus.io and https://webtrader.btxplus.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, 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 the checks carried out, it emerged that:

1. the website https://btxplus.io, active and available in Italian, offers, on the one hand, the possibility of trading Forex and CFDs and, on the other, portfolio management services through "PAMM" accounts;
2. after registering, it is possible to log into the reserved area of the website at the address https://client.btxplus.io where there is a dashboard available in Italian through which it is possible to verify the user's identity and make a deposit and access a web trading platform at the address https://webtrader.btxplus.io through which they can trade Forex and CFDs relating to currencies, cryptocurrencies, indices, shares and commodities;
3. with regard to the legal entity to which the website in question refers, the "BTX +" trademark is generically indicated on the pages of the website, and the user who clicks on the "Contact us directly" link sees a page containing the contact form and email address support@btxplus.io;

WHEREAS the activity carried out via the https://btxplus.io website and the https://client.btxplus.io and https://webtrader.btxplus.io pages may be considered as the provision of investment services, pursuant to article 1, paragraph 5, of the Consolidated Law on Finance, insofar as users are both given the opportunity, through the above-mentioned domains, of opening a trading account, on which purchase and/or sale orders for financial instruments may be placed, and the possibility to use the portfolio management service;

WHEREAS, the above-mentioned activity, which is carried out via the https://btxplus.io website and the https://client.btxplus.io and https://webtrader.btxplus.io pages, is aimed at Italian investors as the aforesaid domains are available in Italian, various complaints have been received from Italian investors who, inter alia, have reported cold calls and complained that it is impossible to obtain the return of the sums paid-in and that no mechanisms have been put in place to prevent registration by users attempting to register on the domains from Italy using Italian IP addresses;

WHEREAS such activity carried out through the website https://btxplus.io and the pages https://client.btxplus.io and https://webtrader.btxplus.iocannot be attributed to any entity that is authorised to provide investment services to the Italian public;

HAVING REGARD TO the requirement to hold a relevant licence to provide investment services and activities as per 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 to do so pursuant to this decree: […] b) order the cessation of the breach";

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://btxplus.io website and the pages https://client.btxplus.io and https://webtrader.btxplus.io, which constitute 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.

22 November 2023

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona