Resolution no. 23170

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 websites www.lyxmont.com and https://alfatraders.org

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 the possibility through the linked websites www.lyxmont.com and https://alfatraders.org - resulting with identical content and graphic format, active, registered anonymously and available in Italian - to trade in contracts for difference (CFDs) with currencies and cryptocurrencies as underlying assets, through a proprietary trading platform;
2. in order to place trades, users must register with these websites, open an account and deposit funds; on both websites, five types of accounts are indicated (“Basic”, “Silver”, “Gold”, “Platinum” and “Diamond”), which differ according to the minimum deposit;
3. by registering both through the website www.lyxmont.com and through the websitehttps://alfatraders.org, users can access the same personal area - within the website https://alfatraders.org - where they can deposit funds and access the trading platform;
4. with regard to traceability, the website www.lyxmont.com contains generic references to “Lyxmont” with its alleged registered office in Saint Lucia; whereas the linked website https://alfatraders.org contains generic references to “AfaTrade” with its alleged registered office in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines;
5. the same non-Italian telephone user is reported at the bottom of the pages of both the www.lyxmont.com andhttps://alfatraders.org websites.

WHEREAS the activity carried out via the websites www.lyxmont.com and https://alfatraders.org constitutes 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 opportunity via the aforementioned domains to open a trading account and place orders to buy and/or sell financial instruments;

WHEREAS the above activity, carried out via the internetwww.lyxmont.com and https://alfatraders.org websites, is still ongoing and is aimed at Italian investors, given that said websites are available in Italian, the absence of a mechanism to block registration by users attempting to register with said websites from Italy through Italian IP addresses has been noted; with regard to the website www.lyxmont.com, attempts to contact Italian investors have been reported and complaints have also been received from Italian investors who have reported that they were unable to get back the sums deposited for trading transactions;

WHEREAS the www.lyxmont.com and https://alfatraders.org websites cannot be attributed to any entity 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 infringement of Art. 18 of Legislative Decree no. 58/98 performed through the websites www.lyxmont.com and https://alfatraders.org, consisting of the 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.

19 June 2024

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona