Resolution no. 23026

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 committed via the https://ethertrader.cc website and its page https://client.ethertrades.cc

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. a potential investor is offered the opportunity, via the https://ethertrader.cc website which is active and available in Italian, to trade derivatives such as Contracts for Difference (CFDs) on cryptocurrencies;

ii. in order to carry out such trading transactions, users must register with the https://ethertrader.cc website and open a trading account; specifically, eight types of account are available, known as "Micro", "Standard", "Commerciante" (Trader), "Premio" (Premium), "Pro", "Vip", "Diamante" (Diamond) and "Elite", 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://ethertrader.cc website available at https://client.ethertrades.cc;

iv. the company Ether Limited, based in London, is indicated at the foot of the https://ethertrader.cc website's pages;

WHEREAS the activity carried out via the https://ethertrader.cc website and the related https://client.ethertrades.cc webpage constitutes provision of investment services, as referred to in article 1, paragraph 5, of the Consolidated Law on Finance, insofar as users are offered the opportunity via the aforementioned domains to open a trading account and place orders to buy and/or sell financial instruments;

WHEREAS the above activity is still ongoing and is aimed at Italian retail investors, given that the https://ethertrader.cc website is available in Italian and cold calls to Italian customers have been reported; moreover no mechanism has been found to block registration by users attempting to register with the website from Italy, through Italian IP addresses, and complaints have been received from Italian retail investors;

WHEREAS the https://ethertrader.cc website and its page https://client.ethertrades.cc 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 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 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 breach of article 18 of Legislative Decree no. 58/98 conducted via the https://ethertrader.cc website and its https://client.ethertrades.cc page, 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 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.

28 February 2024

THE CHAIRMAN

Paolo Savona