Italian Regulator CONSOB Orders Blackout of 13 Unauthorized Websites

CONSOB, Italy's financial markets watchdog, has issued orders for the blackout of 13 new websites found to be illegally offering financial services or providing unauthorized crypto-asset services. This latest action adds to the regulator's ongoing efforts to protect Italian investors from illicit online financial activities.

Among the blocked sites, four were identified as engaging in abusive financial intermediation, one was offering financial products without the required prospectus, and eight were providing crypto-asset services without the necessary authorizations.

CONSOB utilized powers granted by specific Italian laws, including the "Growth Decree" (Law No. 58 of 2019) for abusive financial intermediaries and illegal financial product offers, and powers introduced by the recent MiCAR regulations (Regulation (EU) 2023/1114 and Legislative Decree No. 129 of 2024) for unauthorized crypto-asset services.

The websites targeted in this latest round of blackouts include:

• "CaptinCapital" (www.captincapital.org)

• "Mercato del Futuro" (https://mercatodelfuturo.com and related pages)

• "Sector-Fusion" (www.sector-fusion.com and related page)

• "3Afund" (www.3-afund.com)

• "Cfw896" (https://cfw896.it)

• "Lumex" (https://stratoslumex.com and https://stratoslumex.net)

• "Tmxa" (https://60yg.com)

• "Uyr968" (https://uyr968.it)

• "Fwq367" (https://fwq367.it)

• "Syk755" (www.syk755.it)

• "Pxm266" (https://pxm266.it)

• ​"GenixLimited" (https://genixlimited.com)

With these new additions, the total number of websites blacked out by CONSOB since it gained the power to order such actions in July 2019 has now reached 1,349.

Internet service providers operating in Italian territory are in the process of implementing these blackouts, though CONSOB notes that it may take several days for the blocks to become fully effective due to technical reasons.

CONSOB continues to urge investors to exercise extreme diligence when making investment choices to safeguard their savings. The regulator advises individuals to always verify that any operator offering financial services is authorized and that a prospectus has been published for financial product offerings.