Resolution no. 22905

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 websites https://bitcoinup.io and https://ufinacapital.pro and page https://ufina.trade

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:

1. potential investors are offered to trade through the website https://bitcoinup.io - which is active, available in Italian and registered anonymously - also through the use of software;
2. potential investors are offered through the website https://ufinacapital.pro - which is active, available in Italian and registered anonymously - to trade in derivatives such as Contracts for Differences (CFDs) on assets such as currencies, shares, indices and digital currencies as underlying assets, after registering and opening an account: in particular, the https://ufinacapital.pro website indicates four types of account called “Elementare ” (Elementary), “Intermedio” (Intermediate), “Avanzato” (Advanced) and “Professionale ” (Professional), which differ in the minimum deposit amount and benefits;
3. in order to carry out such trades on both sites - https://bitcoinup.io and https://ufinacapital.pro - registration is required, which in both cases gives the user access to the same reserved area accessible at the URL https://ufina.trade where it is possible, among other things, to deposit funds and access the trading platform;
4. within the website https://bitcoinup.io there are generic references to Bitcoinup, while within the website https://ufinacapital.pro there are generic references to Ufinacapital, in both cases without indication of any address of the headquarters or further telephone or e-mail addresses.

WHEREAS the activity carried out via the websites https://bitcoinup.io and https://ufinacapital.pro and the page https://ufina.trade is to be considered as provision of investment services, as referred to in Article 1, paragraph 5, of the Consolidated Law on Finance, as users are offered the opportunity, through the aforementioned domains, to open a trading account and place orders to buy and/or sell financial instruments;

WHEREAS the aforementioned activity, carried out through the websites https://bitcoinup.io and https://ufinacapital.pro and the page https://ufina.trade is still ongoing and is aimed at Italian investors, insofar as said domains can be consulted in Italian and no mechanism was found to block registration by users attempting to register with the websites from Italy through Italian IP addresses. In addition to this, regarding the website https://ufinacapital.pro there have been reports of contact with Italian investors; with regard to the website https://bitcoinup.io, there are references to a marketing campaign carried out via the web, including through the improper use of the names and images of well-known Italian personalities, with claims of alleged financial returns for investors;

WHEREAS the websites https://bitcoinup.io and https://ufinacapital.pro and the page https://ufina.trade may not 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 commercial 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 infringement of art. 18 of Legislative Decree no. 58/98 performed through the websites https://bitcoinup.io and https://ufinacapital.pro and the page https://ufina.trade, consisting in the provision of investment services and activities to the Italian public.

This Resolution shall be disclosed to the public through publication in the Consob Bulletin.

This measure may be appealed before the Regional Administrative Court of Lazio within 60 days.

22 November 2023

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona