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resolution



Resolution no. 22927

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://bit-matic.com

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. the https://bit-matic.com website, which is active and available in Italian, offers potential investors the possibility to trade online on the forex market and on CFDs relating to indices, shares, commodities and digital currencies;

ii. in order to carry out such trading transactions, users must register with the website and open a trading account; specifically, four types of account are available, known as "Standard", "Silver", "Gold" and "VIP", depending on the minimum deposit required and the benefits promised;

iii. after completing the registration process, users may log into the reserved area of the https://bit-matic.comwebsite, where there is a specific function to deposit and withdraw liquidity on the trading account;

iv. with regard to traceability, the name "Bit-matic" is generically shown on the https://bit-matic.com website without any indication of the registered office; on the "Contact us" page there is a form for requesting information and an indication of the email address support@bit-matic.com.

WHEREAS the activity carried out through the website https://bit-matic.com is deemed to constitute the provision of investment services pursuant to article 1, paragraph 5, of the Consolidated Law on Finance, since users are offered the opportunity through this domain to open a trading account and place orders to buy and/or sell financial instruments;

WHEREAS the above activity is still ongoing, since the https://bit-matic.comwebsite is also available in Italian, and cold calling of Italian consumers has been reported and no mechanism was found to block registration with the https://bit-matic.com website by users attempting to register from Italy/through Italian IP addresses;

WHEREAS the website https://bit-matic.com cannot be attributed to any entity authorised to provide investment services to the Italian public, since "Bit-matic" mentioned on the website https://bit-matic.com does not appear on the register kept by Consob pursuant to Article 20 of Legislative Decree No. 58/1998 ("Consolidated Law on Finance");

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 through the Internet without being qualified pursuant to this decree: […] b) order that such 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 https://bit-matic.com website, consisting in the offering 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.

6 December 2023

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona