News of the week:
Watch for Scams! Abusive financial services: over 1,500 websites blacked out by Consob - Since 2019, 2,270 web domains offering illegal investment and crypto-asset services have been blocked
Crypto-assets, Consob issues warnings to investors and a call for attention to operators - The deadline of 30 December 2025, set by the transitional period for compliance with Micar, is approaching
Memorandum of understanding signed between Consob and the Carabinieri
Supervisory contribution also for entities operating on crypto-asset markets

Consob's decisions of the week

- NEWS OF THE WEEK -

Over 1,500 websites have been blocked by Consob as part of its efforts to combat financial fraud. Since July 2019, when the Authority was given the power to order the blocking of websites belonging to illegal financial intermediaries, 1,507 websites have been shut down, in addition to 763 web pages, for a total of 2,270 individual web domains blocked.

In the last week, Consob ordered the blocking of 11 new websites: of these, ten were illegally offering crypto-asset services and one was providing illegal financial intermediation services. Since January 2025, 307 sites have been closed, 196 of which for the unauthorized provision of investment services and activities on financial instruments or the illegal offering of financial products to the public, while a further 111 websites have been blocked for illegal activities relating to crypto assets.

Below are the websites that Consob ordered to be blocked last week:

• Praxiscarma s.a. (website www.praxiscarma.com and related page https://office.praxiscarma.com);
• “RYE036” (website https://rye026.it);
• “RYE326” (website https://rye326.it);
• “03WAKIH” (website https://03wakih.it);
• “SJCJ11” (website https://sjcj11.it);
• “01LUHAR” (site https://01luhar.it);
• “GKJ159” (website https://gkj159.it);
• “DSHS82” (website https://dshs82.it);
• “GFJ123” (website https://gfj123.it);
• “L88159” (website https://l88159.it);
• “FGJ329” (website https://fgj329.it).

In details, the Authority exercises the powers conferred upon it by the “Decreto crescita” (“Growth Decree”, converted by Law No. 58 of 28 June 2019), which allows it to black out the websites of abusive financial intermediaries, and the powers introduced by MiCAR (EU Regulation 2023/1114 and Legislative Decree No. 129 of 5 September 2024), relating to the blocking of websites that provide crypto-asset services to Italian savers without due authorization.

Internet service providers operating in Italy are currently blocking access to these websites: for technical reasons, it may take a few days for the block to take effect. The measures adopted by Consob can be consulted on the website www.consob.it.

Consob draws investors' attention to the importance of exercising the utmost diligence to make fully informed investment choices, adopting common sense behaviors that are essential for safeguarding their savings. In particular, it is essential to check in advance for websites offering financial and crypto-asset services, that the operator through which you are investing is authorized and, for offers of financial and crypto-asset products, that the prospectus or white paper has been published. The website www.consob.it  has a section on its homepage entitled ‘Watch for Scams!’, which provides useful information to warn investors against abusive financial initiatives.

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Consob urges investors and operators to pay close attention to the 30 December deadline set for the transition period for compliance with the new MiCAR regulations, the European regulation on crypto-asset markets.

30 December 2025 is the last day on which Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs, operators currently offering virtual asset services, such as cryptocurrency exchanges) registered with the OAM (the Organismo Agenti e Mediatori, or Agents and Brokers Organisation) can continue to operate. The same VASPs may - provided that an application for authorisation to operate as a CASP (Crypto-asset Service Provider) in Italy or another EU Member State is submitted (including at group level) by 30 December - continue their activities until the authorisation is granted or refused, and in any case no later than 30 June 2026.

The current regulatory regime in Italy requires for VASPs only to be registered with the OAM. CASPs, on the other hand, must obtain authorisation from the Supervisory Authorities and are subject to their supervision.

In order to facilitate an orderly and transparent transition to this new regime provided by MiCAR, in line with the communication on the same subject published today by ESMA (the European Securities and Markets Authority), Consob highlights (Communication No. 16/25 of 4 December 2025) the precautions to be taken by investors and once again draw the attention of operators to the obligations and tasks associated with the expiry of the transitional period.

Warnings for investors

Consob points out that VASPs currently operating may no longer be authorised to operate after 30 December 2025. In this context, it is therefore essential that investors verify that:

1. they have received the necessary information from the VASP with which they have invested. If not, they should ask for clarification on the operator's plans to comply with the new regulations;
2. the operator is actually authorised to provide services in Italy after 30 December, by consulting the list of VASPs kept by the OAM or the register of authorised CASPs kept by ESMA.

If the operator is not authorised, it cannot continue to provide crypto-asset services to the public and the investor has the right to request the return of their money or crypto-assets.

Warning for VASP operators

On several occasions, Consob has provided operational guidance to interested parties, both through dedicated discussions and through various general communications, such as that of September 2024 with preliminary instructions for operators and the Notice of July 2025 published on the occasion of the extension of the national transitional period to 30 June 2026. Consob also issued a specific reminder on 31 October 2025 to VASPs registered in the OAM register that are not yet authorised under MiCAR.

In view of the 30 December 2025 deadline, Consob therefore reminds VASPs that do not intend to apply for authorisation as CASPs under MiCAR that they must:

1. cease operations in Italy by that date and terminate existing contracts;
2. return crypto-assets and funds to customers in accordance with their instructions;
3. discontinue all services provided, including the custody and administration of crypto-assets.

VASPs registered in the OAM register must, in any case, publish on their website and provide customers with adequate information on the plans and measures they intend to adopt to comply with Micar or, alternatively, for the orderly closure of existing relationships.

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The memorandum of understanding, signed by Consob Chairman Paolo Savona and Carabinieri Commander-in-Chief Salvatore Luongo, is available at the following link: https://www.consob.it/documents/d/asset-library-1912910/protocollo_consob_carabinieri_20251124.

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Consob, in view of the alignment of national legislation with European legislation, has supplemented its resolution no. 23352 of 10 December 2024, determining the contribution for the 2025 financial year, pursuant to Article 40 of Law No. 724 of 23 December 1994, subjecting entities operating on crypto-asset markets to the contribution as well.

Therefore, taking into account the entry into force of Regulation (EU) 2023/1114 (MiCAR) on crypto-asset markets and Legislative Decree No. 129 of 5 September 2024, which brought national legislation into line with Regulation (EU) 2023/1114, Consob, by resolution no. 23700 of 15 October 2025, adopted the amendments to be made to the 2025 Contribution System concerning the supervisory contribution, also payable by entities operating on crypto-asset markets, and decided to supplement its resolution no. 23352 of 10 December 2024, which provides, among other things, that Consob, for the purposes of its financing, shall determine each year the amount of contributions due to it from entities subject to its supervision.

These amendments were submitted for public consultation, which took place from 23 July 2025 to 22 August 2025.

In particular, the contribution established by the aforementioned Resolution No. 23700 of 15 October 2025, implemented by Prime Ministerial Decree of 25 November 2025, concerns:

1. Crypto-asset service providers (CASP);
2. the supervision of white papers for crypto-assets other than
3. the supervision of white papers for ARTs.

The explanatory report and the comments received are published in the “Regulation/Consultations concluded” section of the Consob website.

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• Approval of the supplement to the registration document of Banca Popolare dell'Alto Adige Spa relating to the offer of non-equity securities intended for retail investors issued by Banca Popolare dell'Alto Adige.

• Order, pursuant to Article 7-octies, letter b), of Legislative Decree No. 58 of 24 February 1998 (Consolidated Law on Finance – TUF) to put an end to the violation of Article 18 of the same TUF, committed by Praxiscarma sa through the internet site www.praxiscarma.com and the related page https://office.praxiscarma.com (resolution no. 23780 of 3 December 2025).

• Order, pursuant to Article 94, paragraph 1, letter h) of Regulation (EU) 2023/1114 (“MiCAR”) and Article 4(1) of Legislative Decree No. 129/2024, to put an end to the violation of Article 59 of MiCAR committed by Rye036 via the website https://rye026.it; Rye326 via the website https://rye326.it; 03Wakih through the website https://03wakih.it; Sjcj11 through the website https://sjcj11.it; 01Luhar via the website https://01luhar.it; Gkj159 via the website https://gkj159.it; Dshs82 via the website https://dshs82.it; Gfj123 via the website https://gfj123.it; L88159 via the website https://l88159.it; Fgj329 via the website https://fgj329.it (resolution no. 23781 of 3 December 2025).

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