Italy’s Consob blocks gate.io, PrimeXBT and SimpleFX domains
Consob, the Italian securities regulator, has dropped the hammer on yet another number of financial websites it says were illegally promoting trading products in the country.
It has contacted Italy’s internet service providers (ISPs), requesting that they block access to all of the sites in question.
In its latest crackdown, Consob has ordered the blackout of 28 new pages/websites that “abusively” offer financial services. This time, the administrative authority confirmed that its intervention was a result of a report received from the Finance Police.
“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 regulator stated.
The action has been supported by the ‘Decreto Crescita’ law allowing CONSOB to obstruct Italian investors’ access to online brokers. The regulators took similar action throughout the past few months, ordering nearly 593 domains to be blocked.
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The following websites belong to entities that are not allowed to offer financial services in Italy but continue to solicit investments from locals.
- 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).
The Italian regulator found new tools to address illegal operators in the market when the ‘Growth Decree’ extended its powers far beyond. Thanks to the decree, CONSOB can order Italian internet service providers (ISPs) to block websites in the region. Due to technical reasons, it can take several days for the black-out to come into effect when these websites shut for a temporary period.
Additionally, the authority has warned even authorized firms against falsely advertising unregulated products as being regulated by Consob. The watchdog added that these financial promotions were unlikely to provide consumers with the clarity required by its rules and could leave them unable to understand whether the promoted products or services were beyond its remit.
