Italy ordered a full review of its crypto safeguards as regulators warned that risks to retail investors are rising.

Italy’s Economy Ministry ordered a full review of the country’s crypto safeguards on Thursday after officials released an official warning on so-called “rising risks could hit retail investors.”

The decision came from a meeting of the Committee for Macroprudential Policies, which includes the head of the Bank of Italy, the chief of Consob, the insurance and pension fund watchdogs, and the director general of the Treasury.

In a joint statement, the regulators said, “An in-depth review has been launched to assess the adequacy of existing safeguards for direct and indirect investments in crypto-assets by retail investors.”

The committee also said economic and financial conditions in Italy remain broadly favorable, but global uncertainty is still high.

The push landed on the same day Europol revealed that it dismantled an international crypto fraud network that laundered more than €700 million across several countries.

In an official statement seen by Cryptopolitan, the EU investigators said the case began with one fake website and expanded into a whole operation built on false crypto-investment platforms. Victims were pulled in through ads that promised high returns.

After making their first deposits, they were shown fake profits on fake dashboards and pushed to reinvest. Once the money was in, the criminals moved it through several blockchains and crypto exchanges to hide the flow.

Europol tracks suspects and seizes funds

Europol’s first major action happened on October 27, when police raided sites in Cyprus, Germany, and Spain at the request of French and Belgian authorities. Nine suspects were arrested. Officers seized €800,000 in bank accounts, €415,000 in crypto, €300,000 in cash, and high-end watches, electronics, and documents tied to the scheme.

Officials said the second phase, carried out on November 25 and 26, targeted marketing firms tied to the network in Germany, Belgium, Bulgaria, and Israel. These firms were accused of running ads that used deepfakes, fake media clips, and fake celebrity endorsements to lure victims.

Europol described the case as one of the largest crypto laundering operations in Europe and said, “The investigation revealed that more than €700 million was laundered through a complex network of cryptocurrency exchanges, using digital anonymity to conceal illicit flows of funds.” Officials said the findings show how well-organized fraud groups now run fake platforms that look real enough to fool investors.

EU leaders weigh new ESMA powers over crypto firms

The European Commission also presented new plans on Thursday to make the EU’s capital markets more competitive by easing cross-border activity and increasing the powers of the European Securities and Markets Authority, known as ESMA. The 27-nation bloc is trying to keep up with the United States and China, and officials said the EU can boost its performance by strengthening its single market for services.

Former Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta, who wrote a report last year on how to fix the single market, said the biggest impact would come from channeling 33 trillion euros in private savings into the real economy. Enrico said that a third of that money is sitting in current accounts. He added that 300 billion euros in family savings flows overseas, mostly to the United States, which he said shows how fragmented EU markets are. He pointed to market values in 2024, when the EU’s market was equal to 73% of GDP, while the U.S. reached 270% of GDP.

Under the new plan, oversight of trading venues, central counterparties, CSDs, and crypto-asset providers would move to ESMA, which would also take on a stronger role in coordinating asset management. France, home of ESMA, has pushed for this shift. ESMA head Verena Ross said she would welcome the move. ESMA said the new package “represents a major step towards deeper and more efficient EU capital markets.”

The proposal follows the rollout of the EU’s new crypto rules this year, which raised concerns about uneven enforcement. Regulators in France, Italy, and Austria called in September for ESMA to take charge of supervising major crypto firms. France also warned it may challenge the passporting of licenses from countries with softer licensing standards. Malta’s financial regulator, which faced scrutiny this year for its licensing process, said it opposes giving ESMA more crypto supervision power.

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