Consob Orders Blackout of 11 Unauthorized Websites

Italys financial markets regulator Consob has announced the latest round of enforcement measures aimed at protecting retail investors from unauthorized financial activity. On 22 May 2025, the authority ordered the blackout of 11 websites found to be offering financial or crypto-related services to Italian users without proper authorization.

The move includes seven websites involved in abusive financial intermediation, and four sites providing crypto services illegally. These actions are part of Consobs broader effort to limit public access to high-risk, unregulated platforms.

Legal Basis for Action

The blackout orders were issued under powers granted by the Growth Decree (converted into law no. 58 of 28 June 2019), which allows Consob to restrict online access to fraudulent or unauthorized financial intermediaries. For crypto-related services, the regulator also acted under new legal authority stemming from the MiCAR framework (EU Regulation 2023/1114) and Italys Legislative Decree No. 129 of 5 September 2024.

These combined regulatory tools enable Italian authorities to act decisively against online platforms operating without registration or transparency, especially when targeting domestic savers.

Websites Blocked by Consob

The following domains have been flagged and will be subject to blackouts by Italian Internet service providers:

• Lemintero – https://lemintero.co
• Geneve Capital Invest – https://genevcapinvest.com, https://webtrader.gencapwebtrade.com
• VT Markets Limited – www.vtmarkets.com, www.vtmarkets.net, plus subpages
• HotMarkets – https://hotmarketscfd.com
• Fusion4Markets – https://fusion4markets.cc, https://client.fusion4markets.cc
• Trustfxpro – www.trustfxpro.com
• Bvoxed – https://bvoxed.com
• BeratCoin – https://btc6688.com
• Interersos / Interesosf – https://interersosf.org, https://interersos.org

With this latest round of action, the total number of websites blacked out by Consob since July 2019 has now reached 1,328.

Investor Reminder: Always Verify Before You Trade

This latest enforcement action highlights the ongoing risks of engaging with unlicensed platforms—especially those operating online with little transparency. Investors are strongly encouraged to verify a brokers regulatory status, license details, and operational background before depositing any funds.

To help with this, users can turn to WikiFX, a global broker verification platform, to check for regulatory licenses, user complaints, and risk warnings. If a broker is not listed or lacks proper authorization, it may be best to stay away.

Always do your due diligence—if something seems too good to be true, it probably is.