The Commissione Nazionale per le Società e la Borsa (CONSOB) has shut down 28 new websites in an ongoing clampdown against firms it accuses of illegally promoting investment products in the country.
The newly-blacklisted domains include prominent cryptocurrency platforms such as Gate.io, one of the oldest cryptocurrency exchanges that has been operating since 2013. Consob also flagged PrimeXBT, which offers leveraged trading, real-time market data, and analysis tools across a wide spectrum of crypto assets.
In the latest clampdown, Consob has teamed up with the Finance Police, which reported the websites that were targeted in the latest clampdown.
“Consob and the Finance Police have agreed to continue and intensify the collaboration related to this subject. To this purpose it was decided the institution of a dedicated joint working group. As part of a wide-ranging investigation, several web domains were identified through which trading services on financial instruments, mostly related to crypto-currencies, were illegally offered,” the statement further reads.
The watchdog also added the following brands to its register of banned internet sources for illegally promoting trading products in the country.
- Gate Technology Corp (internet domains www.gate.io, www.gateio.rocks, www.gateio.ws);
- – “EliteCrypto Trade” (internet domain www.elitecryptotrade.com);
- – Maxbit LLC (internet domains www.quotex.io, www.quotex.com);
- – PrimeXBT Trading Services LLC (internet domain www.primexbt.com and related page https://my.pimexbt.com);
- – Po Trade Ltd (internet domain www.po.trade);
- – AMarkets Ltd (internet domain www.amarkets.com and related page https://my.amarkets.org);
- – “Finmax” (internet domain www.finmaxbo.com);
- – SimpleFX Ltd (internet domain https://simplefx.com and related page https://app.simplefx.com);
- – Vantage Global Limited (internet domain www.monetamarkets.com);
- – “Ultimate-mining.co” (internet domain www.ultimate-mining.co);
- – “Bitcoin ERA” and “Absystem” (internet domains https://bitcoinera.app and https://absystem.world);
- – “Bitcoin ERA”, “CryptoRobot”, “Sagatrade” (internet domains www.bitcoinera.com, www.cryptorobot.com, www.sagatrade.io);
- – “Bitcoin-evolutionpro”, Twingle Consulting LTD (internet domains www.bitcoin-evolutionpro.com and https://cointrade.cc);
- – “Bitcoin UP” “FXPLANB” (internet domains www.bitcoin-up.live and https://fxplanb.com);
- – Binarium Limited (internet domains www.binarium.com, https://binarium.global and https://binarium.trading).
Consob prepares for crypto regulation
Although the Italian watchdog was busy chasing unregulated crypto firms, it has yet to come up with specific regulations. Until now, Italy has sought pan-European initiatives to police crypto activities as a benchmark to begin with.
Earlier this year, Consob held a webinar with “some major players” in the financial market to probe the regulation of crypto token offerings.
Not many details were revealed about the matter, but Consob is actively working on regulations that might one day permit so-called tokenization, which allows a crypto token to represent a traditional asset like stocks.
For STO operators, the framework will entail proper regulation that covers key risks including AML and counter-terrorist financing, investor protection, governance and safe custody.
Elsewhere, CONSOB has been amongst the most vigilant and strict regulators in Europe when it comes to dealing with leveraged trading. Furthermore, the watchdog put a blanket ban in place against activities of a handful of FX brokers regulated by CySEC, the UK FCA and elsewhere in Europe. Consob said the ban was necessary to protect Italian investors after these brokers repeated its violations despite the measures adopted by its original regulator.
At the time, Consob clarified that it made its decision under the article 7-quarter, paragraph 4 of the Consolidated Law on Finance (TUF), as well as article 86 of Mifid2. This legislation allows the regulator to order investment firms and brokers operating in the country from another EU member state, through the EU passporting regime, to cease their operations after informing the competent authority of the member state.
